Soothing Sunlight
by GetNerfedOn
Summary: When anomalies rise Rosalina is sent to investigate, and gets more than just what she bargains for. In the meantime, a Warrior of Sunlight, after aiding Solaire into linking the First Flame, wishes to find new purpose... and a stranded spacefarer might just solve that. Rated T for themes and violence. UPDATE - SORRY ABOUT THE HIATUS, LAPTOP'S HARD DRIVE HAS FAILED.
1. Struck Down

MY first story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of these characters. Nintendo owns Smash Bros and From Software owns Dark Souls; and thus, their respective characters. Hope I wrote well, and rate & review, fellows!

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CHAPTER THE FIRST

It was a glorious day in Lordran. The magnificent sun shone, all the Hollows had been dispatched, and the Hellkite Drake had been sent flying away whimpering with a well-aimed Sunlight Spear. Now there was nothing left to do on the Undead Parish's bridge except wait for the Drake to return, and chuck a Sunlight Spear at its' gnarly visage. One more use. He groaned, regretting all the times he passed through that bloody passage with the rats instead of slaying the Drake.

The Undead sighed. Everything had become monotonous ever since his friend Solaire of Astora had kindled the First Flame… heh, that guy was shining in the sky, so to speak. _Of course,_ he thought, _he's Gwyn's firstborn, after all. Now he's back where he belongs._

But now there was no Flame to be kindled (for the time being, anyways), no Bells of Awakening to be rung, and no serpent to direct them on a quest to save the world. The Flame was stable, and with it the world. The few things he could take pleasure in engaging were the hostile inhabitants of Lordran (which he could take care of easily) and the invading Darkwraiths (which happened quite rarely). Or a Dragon servant (those were the strange ones.)

And lastly, most of his friends were gone. The Crestfallen Warrior, slain in New Londo. The Thorolundians, and Lautrec (although he proved to be worse, much like Petrus). Siegmeyer of Catarina, lost to some Chaos Eaters. Griggs of Vinheim, struck down looking for his master. And let's not forget the master, Big Hat Logan, who he had to kill after he'd gone insane reading some forbidden tomes in the Duke's archives. The remaining few weren't so chatty, except for Laurentius, and good ol' Patches. _Pfffft. First he flips a bridge on me, then kicks me into a pit. But it was worth it. Now he's for me, tooth and nail._

There was someone else, though... but the pain that came with even just a mention, a thought, even... it was not worth it.

For now, all he could do was sit in ennui and stare at the scenery. (Aside from waiting for the dragon, that is.)

Suddenly, he saw a comet streak into the sky. _Eh. Don't care if it's bad luck or whatever; it's kinda pretty up there. Solaire, you made this or something?_

* * *

Meanwhile, in outer space right near Lordran's location, the comet rocketed into the cosmos. It began to slow and finally reached a halt in front of the somewhat benign planet. Rosalina shuddered. This was one reach of the cosmos she had not traveled to… yet. This galaxy gave her the chills.

First was its strange, small yet very bright sun. She felt not only the usual warmth and light a sun gave off, but also a strange resonance from it… as if it were alive and brimming with joy. A sentient sun... that was scary if it started moving around. Second was the planet in question. Even from far away, she had a sense of what was going on down there. A thin cloud layer gave way to a vast, earthlike planet with much greenery and mountains, verdant seas, and vast forests. But that was not what frightened her, no. That was even quite tranquil! It was the cities, the marks of civilization, which bothered her.

Vast tracts of land were burning, the conflagration reaching several hectares wide. She could also see mottled specks of farmland which had been struck by drought. And signs of a great war were everywhere. Not that she could see all of them clearly, or that she needed to. There were just plains filled with small grayish specks which she thought were corpse piles. All the other specks were tents and battlements, she guessed. After that was purely nature itself. What worried her was that there were so few traces of humanity on this planet, and most of them were that benign.

 _Have they all gone extinct? It's a possibility. Human nature can be so destructive and pleasing all the same. But Master Hand told me of the anomaly residing in here… which we either would capture and utilize, or eliminate. And there might be something, human or no, that might be guarding it… or at least living near it..._

Sensing her discomfort, a blue Luma floated near her. "Mama? Are you all right?"

Rosalina jumped, a bit startled. "Oh, hi, my child! S-sorry, was a bit startled there! Well, I'm kind of unsure about this place. It feels quite odd, indeed…"

The Luma's expression changed to one of curiosity. "Why is it weird?"

"Because", Rosalina replied," as I can see, the people in it just kept on having war…? I guess? Well, my child, I guess it should not worry us for the moment." She sighed. "By the way, my child, what is your name?"

"My name is Oliver, Mama!" the Luma replied, quite evidently proud of its name.

"Oliver… Mhmmm, you're quite unique when it comes to names!" Rosalina beamed, and gave him a Star Bit, which he promptly devoured. "Umm…." He mumbled.

"What is it, child? Anything wrong?"

"Can I have some more, Mama?" Luma begged plaintively.

"Of course, Oliver, as long as it's not too much, my child. Because if you do eat too much, you're going to change into something else. And you don't want that to happen now, right?" she replied.

"Right, Mama!" Oliver replied, and received a second Star bit. Then a third.

"Right. Where are the others, my child?"

"Oh, Mama, they're just playing hide-and-seek all over the place! I didn't join yet because I was quite hungry."

"Oh, I see, my dear. Could you call them, please? It's lunchtime now, actually." Rosalina glanced at a clock and a schedule, and sighed. She had her own "time zone" (as Master Hand called it) just for the Lumas' welfare. Nothing significant about having that sort of thing, except for it leading to sleepless nights and stressful days when it came to taking care of her stellar children… but that she was willing to endure.

"Of course, Mama!" Oliver shouted, and bounded out of the Beacon, beaming a Cheshire smile.

This was going to be a great day… or so they thought, anyways. As the Lumas began to float towards Rosalina, eager for their share of Star Bits, she chuckled. These, her children, were... quite capable of taking care of themselves... and her as well. _My deepest thanks to you, my children,_ she thought _, and my apologies... I haven't given you credit where credit is due._

"Mhmmm…one for you, Mike, and you too, Louise – hey, don't fight over that, you two! You can come to me if you're still hungry~ Oh, hi there, Oliver! You ok? How are your friends?"

"They're all fine, Mama! Right, Zach?" "Right!" "Hey, Sean, I want that one! The blue one!" "Don't you already have one?"

Such was just some of the babble which usually ensued when it was lunchtime on the Observatory. Most of it was directed at Mama, who was giving out Star Bits from her massive, hammerspace-hidden supply. Some of it was arguments over the said Star bits, which Rosalina quickly put a stop to. Things then got a bit quieter when the Lumas started concentrating on chewing, and when Rosalina decided to have her share of the bounty. _Well, I'll have to make do with this for a while… don't have any ingredients for gourmet or baked products yet._

After that, the Lumas began to scatter into groups, chasing each other or playing kid's games with the playful agility of youth. Rosalina decided it was about time for her to get a quick nap, when a familiar brown Luma approached her. "Oh, hi, Polari, what is it"?

"Good noon, milady! And what a fine noon it is, indeed… but I do feel something strange, milady."

"And what might that be, Polari? Is it the anomaly? Or a star of sorts we could use?" replied Rosalina. Polari's senses were, at best, quite as sharp as hers. Years of growth as a mere Luma yielded this strange effect. "We are running out of Power Stars, I should note."

"No, milady… it just so happens that, as soon as we arrived, I felt another presence. It… seems to be morbidly following us and biding its' time. As if it is waiting for an opportune moment to strike."

Rosalina's hackles began to rise in panic. "Oh, dear, Polari… where did you last sense it?"

"Er… as of right now – oh, wait, it's MOVING TOWARDS US – "

Polari suddenly warped out of the way in panic as a strange, blue humanoid suddenly flew at the Observatory… from out of nowhere, it seemed. It crashed into the Beacon head-first, stood up, shook the debris off itself, and began to reach for the starlike reactor when a ball of cosmos suddenly slammed into it, knocking it aside… but only for quite an abysmal distance.

 _It's happening again!_ She thought, quickly scrutinizing the situation _. Someone attacks me and steals my power source, cue me on the floor, out cold, and the Lumas too... But thanks to combat training (courtesy of Smash), I won't let that happen. Not on my watch._

"A pitiful attempt, young woman! But it seems today, of all days, is the day you must perish!" boomed the thing. "I am Tabuu, embodiment of Subspace! And you shall not stand-"

Another wave of cosmic energy smacked him in the chest, followed by a razor-sharp halo. He'd managed to dodge that, and was now looking at his opponent with a begrudging respect in his eyes… but also with rage. "You dare interrupt me?! You're just a pathetic ant compared to this form!"

"Less talking, more fighting, eh sir?" Rosalina jested, sending wave after wave of cosmic hurt at the offender. "Let's get this over with, then!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the Undead watched this drama unfold from far below… albeit with very little quality, and with no idea of what was going on up there. The binoculars helped a bit. All he could see was a tiny black dot in the sky and continual flashes of blue as its occupants fought. All he knew was that he was geting one of the best light shows in the world, courtesy of his friend Solaire.

Or so he thought.

Presently, he heard a loud beating of wings from far away… heralding the approach of the infamous Hellkite Drake. It came from directly in front of him, obscuring his view of the light show... but also leaving it wide open to a strike from Sunlight Spear. His smirked, and began charging one. It was an easy shot. He took his time, aimed at the beast, and threw…

…and it _did a corkscrew, dodging the thing!_

 _Whoa, son, that's NEVER happened before! –_ He thought as he hastily brandished his Dragon Crest Shield as the dragon landed on its' perch and blew a hearty stream of fire. _And now Sunlight Spear is out of uses. The thing's adaptive, I'll give it that…_ he thought, pulling out the really cool regular Lightning Spear while dodging toward the safe spot near the center of the bridge. The Drake loosed another jet of fire, and, seeing nothing happen, decided to wheel down to the bridge to investigate.

It was all over in seconds. The Undead, anticipating this, swung the huge, long chunk of steel we all know as the Bass Cannon, managing to lop a wing off due to the Zweihander's extraordinary length. The drake yowled in pain and tried to stomp him flat, but to no avail. The Undead had long since sidestepped, and quickly followed up with another slash, decapitating the poor thing.

 _Finally. After all the pain he's caused me…_ sighing in relief and taking a swig of his Estus Flask while feeling the sweet sensation of souls surging into his bosom.

* * *

"Lumas, keep yourselves safe! Let me take care of this!" she exclaimed as several of them dove at the being, only to be swatted away. They provided a nice distraction, though, as Tabuu focused more on the Lumas, and less on dodging Rosalina's attacks.

Finally, he'd had enough. He suddenly spawned a Chain of Light and began swinging it mercilessly, whacking the Lumas away. Some of them miraculously survived, while others couldn't take it and burst into stardust. One of them was caught up in the chain, and was used to bat poor Rosalina, who was knocked to the ground near the Terrace. She got up shakily and teleported back to the scene of calamity. Thinking about how cruelly those Lumas perished only fueled her rage. _No time to weep, for now..._

She quickly loosed more starbursts from her wand, some of which connected, emitting satisfying howls of pain from Tabuu. He dodged and retaliated by raining spectral bullets on her general direction – but she quickly warped out of the way. "I guess you have a point, darling!" He grinned. "And a mighty good show, too! But, sad to say, I'll have to end this quickly, if I can…"

Suddenly, multicolored, spectral wings began to unfurl from his back, and he began to charge energy. It was a magnificent sight, and a terrible one to see.

Rosalina, remembering all the stories the other smashers told her, quickly sent a powerful wave of cosmic energy towards one of the wing, hoping beyond hope that what Sonic achieved could happen again... _But the wing didn't break._ She fell to the ground dazed by the strain, but filled with overpowering love for her charges, she got back up again, eyes blazing with determination. For the Lumas, for her friends, for the universe itself… she could not give up so easily.

"Oh, nice try, miss!" Tabuu grinned. "That was surely something! But alas, not too strong… prepare to die!"

"Lumas! BRACE YOURSELVES!" Rosalina screamed, and managed to put up an energy shield... but she knew it was no use. Nothing could stand a chance against the Off Waves. Or so the other smashers said.

In despair, she glanced at the Beacon, at the Lumas, at everything she cared about. She sadly mused to herself, knowing she had done what she could. _Forgive me, everyone. I failed all of you… even at my full potential._

And against all odds, a _miracle_ happened.

Ever wonder what happens to Sunlight Spears if you miss? They just keep going until a.) their energy is expended, and it takes a long time before that happens, or b.) they hit something, e.g. a wall _._ In short, the Sunlight Spear which the Drake had dodged just kept on flying through space. Unobstructed, and against all odds, it reached the Observatory and heartily smashed into the spot on Tabuu's wing which had been struck by attacks, shattering it as an awestruck Rosalina and the Lumas looked on. _Oh, my word!_ _They must have great eyesight to score a hit on him from that far!_

He howled, losing focus, leaving him wide open to more bombardment courtesy of Rosalina. This time he was knocked back a considerable distance, out of the general vicinity of the Observatory. This gave her the opening to quickly envelop the Observatory in a force field. She then controlled the Comet to speed towards the planet, hoping to find some sort of help from its natives. She couldn't fight this thing alone, and she sure knew the thing wasn't dead yet.

 _All in a day's work…_ she thought as the combined toll of exerting her power and injury began to weigh upon her, and as she fell forward, losing consciousness, the last thing she saw was the remaining brood of Lumas rushing towards her, trying to catch her. She smiled, and finally blacked out.

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That's it for now, ladies and gentlemen! Stay tuned and as always, rate and review!

\\[T]/


	2. Honor and Defiance

Hello everyone! Here it is, straight from the second-last week of classes! An earlier and longer chapter than usual, thanks to finishing requirements earlier than the given deadline, and sheer wild imagination. And seeing even just thirty views, a review and a follow… it fills me with DETERMINATION.

As per publication standards…

Disclaimer. I don't own Dark Souls and Super Smash Bros (and their characters); they belong to From Software and Nintendo, respectively. Not me.

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Chapter 2

As the Comet Observatory began speeding away, its invader attempted to give chase, thinking he could break through the force field… but he was wrong. He flew straight into it, and was consequently halted. He then decided to stop in space and mull over the situation for a while.

Tabuu swore. He was in quite a state of pain. He'd bided his time, waiting for an opportune moment to strike her down while she was distracted with those prattling little Luma children... and yet it all went to waste, damn it!

That woman… he had greatly underestimated her. She'd fought back. Resisted, even. Those pestering little bratty Lumas were also quite a nuisance… although knowing he'd sent some of them to hell (or so he thought) was exceedingly satisfying. And right when he'd finally, _finally_ decided to use the Off Waves… some blistering bolt of energy which could _definitely not have come from her_ just shattered his left wing. "And I just grew them back! No matter… even if I look like some idiot with just one wing I'll get the job done. And this time… there won't be freak accidents to save the pitiful wretched ant." He mused to himself. "And this time, the Grand Stars… shall be mine and mine alone!"

He bid his wings disappear, then with a savage roar, began speeding after his quarry.

* * *

The Undead watched, awestruck, as a humungous, semitransparent, azure sphere hurtled down from the sky from where the light show was. There was all sorts of strange structures inside it, but as far as the Binoculars' sight extended, he couldn't see the things clearly. What he could make out was this… huge minaret of some sorts with a bright, turquoise light shone from the middle.

It approached, steady on, and steady on… until it finally crashed far, far north of the Undead's general position. _What have you done, Solaire? Playing God already?!_ Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue blur fly after it in full throttle. _Oh. Solaire definitely could have not made that. And it looks… quite invasive. A sporting hunt, this will be!_

He decided to check those things out. Besides, he had all the time in the world… and all the boredom as well. And since the thing landed north… _heavens above. Why there of all places?! Oh, dear…_ He shuddered as a gut-wrenching guilt overtook him.

Anor Londo, of all places. The place… where a good friend of his turned against him, all because of his actions.

Darkmoon Knightess.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Comet Observatory (which had crashed onto the roof near Gwynevere's chamber), the remaining Lumas were dazed by the impact. Some of them stumbled blindly into each other, while others stayed still and waited for the world to stop spinning. Rosalina, however, was not so lucky. She was still as a stone, leaning against the Beacon.

The Lumas clustered around their unconscious mama, trying to wake her up. For a full minute they tried various methods (e.g. shouting "MAMA! WAKE UP!" in varying tones) until Polari noticed her chest rising and falling. "Sh-shhh, children, she's all safe. No need to wake her up. She's just tired!" he cautioned, seeing Oliver run to the Fountain with a bucket.

Then for the first time did the Lumas look around, and take stock of the city of the gods.

A glorious panorama unfolded before their eyes. Magnificent buildings basking in the light of the now-rising sun. The architecture, Polari noted, was quite… modern. But for the Lumas, one thing was certain: this was the greatest city they'd ever seen.

Their wonder was cut short when a certain blue invader floated onto the pinnacle of one of the buildings. It paused, evidently quite tired out due to its' injuries. Then, with a savage roar, he turned into something sharklike and sped to them

"Scatter!" screamed Zachary, as it sliced through the air. They managed to dodge that, but poor Polari – now tired from the day's exhaustions – was batted away by the Shark Blade. He landed in the Kitchen, unconscious,

"Now, now" muttered Tabuu, who had presently returned to his normal form, "Where is your mother?"

"We'd never-"retorted Oliver, who was nearly smacked into oblivion by a Chain of Light. "Talking back, eh?! ANSWER ME!" screamed Tabuu, now irate. Not expecting one, he followed, the Lumas' gazes… and soon spotted Mama.

"A pity. She won't know what hit her!" he grinned, and prepared to use Off Waves. One wing glowing in the sunlight. One charge. And it was all over. "Ces't la guerre!"

And that's when an Estoc buffed with Darkmoon Blade sank into his back.

* * *

He remembered the details all too well. The memory was fresh as a hot iron brand through the flesh of his recent memories. As he headed to the Bonfire, preparing to warp, the memory resurfaced, warning him.

It had been a usual sunny day in Anor Londo's illusion-lit halls, just two days ago. The sun was shining, birds were singing… and he'd just decided to try out invading, for a change of pace, and since the Cracked Red Eye Orbs were just _begging_ to be used. It was quite entertaining, that fight against that poor Forest Hunter and his White Phantom toadies. _Out of the jungle, eh, fellows?_ They tried their best, but against his skill, no matter. One fell to backstabs from the Balder Side Sword, another blown away by Wrath of the Gods, and the master of the world, cut down by a riposte. _A nice change of pace, indeed! I'll try it again, later._

He'd just returned and now had returned to the Knightess' bonfire. He sat down and rested, the familiar feeling of Estus healing his wounds coursing through him. Meanwhile, Knightess was paging through the Book of the Guilty, muttering some obscenities upon spotting some regulars (dedicated Darkwraiths and Gravelorders) who still refused to change their ways. Upon his arrival, she merely waved, and he nodded back to acknowledge her. It would not have mattered if she attempted to start a conversation with him; he was mute. But she full well knew that. She'd come to understand him, know him, show concern for him… and probably something deeper coursed through her unending care of him.

Presently she heard her gasp. He turned around, saw her clutch the Book tightly. Then drop it. And then, grip her Estoc's hilt. _What's with her?_

Then he heard her voice.

"You vile beast; you have been indicted!"

 _Oh, crap._ He shook his head, trying to deny it. _Those three must've been hard up. Hey, I was just bored, and-_

Then she continued relentlessly, her voice in utter disdain and disappointment.

"I thought thou could not succumb to the temptation, Sir. I expected much from thee. But now… it seems you have shown thine true colors. I-I" She seemed to be breaking down, showing weakness of heart.

Then her tone changed entirely, to one of pure sorrow and pain.

"Man, I cannot draw upon thee! Thou art dear to me, dearer than aught that breathes – and yet I have to! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" She sank to her knees, sobbing. He tried to approach… and of course the woman just reacted in a proper manner; she roared, and with inhuman strength, hit him on a chest with a brutal right hook. He flew backwards into nearby pillar, crashing against it. _Oh, dear. Now what?_

She quickly buffed her weapon with Darkmoon Blade, pulled out a parrying Dagger, and started advancing to him, her stride suddenly confident. "But if thou hast transgressed mine Lord Gwyndolin's laws… then I will have to do what I must" she intoned. "I am a Blade of the Darkmoon _. And I will cut you down."_ Her voice, once bursting with concern, with friendship, with _love_ , was now full to the brim with hatred.

 _I don't know what to do anymore,_ he thought, blocking all her strikes from the Estoc with a Grass Crest Shield. She attacked mercilessly, without care, driven by rage. His sword remained sheathed. _It would be fair murder! Not only you can draw upon me, I cannot as well!_

The Knightess saw this. "Coward! Draw thine sword or die!"

But he couldn't. Now he was pressed to choose – one thing he wasn't good at… one thing, he noted bitterly, which cost him his tongue. Would he let her kill him, in the name of justice and all that was good, but in cost of his Humanity and – most importantly – his sanity? Or would he kill her, as she was a threat to him… and thus kill someone dear to him?

Presently, she feinted, and suddenly lunged at him. The strike slipped through the side of his Grass Crest Shield, into a chink in his armor, and then into his gut. He yowled… but still did not draw his sword or even make any attempt at offense. The burning pain steeled his decision. _I can't do it… even if I'm labelled a coward, even if I will be hunted down by some Blade of the Darkmoon… all right, I'll just get myself killed by one other Blade of the Darkmoon. But not her. I won't give her the satisfaction._ In one fluid motion, he slid the Estoc out of him excruciatingly, rolled to the Bonfire, and ran out of the building while the Knightess gave chase. He was about to get to the Batwing Demon who ferried people to and from Sen's Fortress when she suddenly backstabbed him and kicked him away. She then prepared to finish him while he was down, but he had rolled out of reach, and the Batwing, watching this overture with amusement, grabbed the Undead and whisked him away.

The last he'd seen was her…falling to her knees, putting her hands on her eyes, and letting out a harrowing cry. And now… he'd be seeing her again. No Blade of the Darkmoon had killed him. He was still her target, and now she'd get what she wanted. _Damnit. I'll just try not to stay hollow this time._ He shuddered, and steeled himself as he warped. _And I truly hope we can make amends._

This piteous cry of hers echoed in his mind as he entered Anor Londo, rising up from the ground… _and she wasn't there._

* * *

The Knightess in question had been brooding over the Book of the Guilty once more(noting that the vile Undead had not changed in sin – a questionable sign!) when a sudden impact to the roof shook through the building. The great force knocked her off her feet and shattered a few fragile earthenware implements. But aside from that, the glorious building's integrity held. _Damn,_ she thought, _at least the makers of this godly building did their work well. But I will have to investigate… this appears dangerous to the inhabitants themselves. Even if I have to sacrifice mine own life._

As she took her route to the roof, she came across some of her friends, the Silver Knights. "Remain here. There might be intruders" she cautioned. "As you will, Lady of the Darkling!" The Knights replied, quite shocked at the Knightess herself, rushing out of her usual post to investigate. She ran on, and on, and on, passing a variety of inhabitants who had been disturbed by the impact. These incidents she quickly quelled. Finally, she reached the roof, panting laboriously. There she saw the most peculiar sight in her life.

A huge, strange structure, one of its sections buried into the building. An assortment of small, colored creatures, who were running for dear life as a strange, malevolent entity with a spectral wing charged its energy for one climactic release. And, in the middle of it all, a strange, pale woman wearing a flowing evening dress lay, stock still, against the barriers containing some sort of beacon. She made a decision then and there. She ran, buffing her Estoc in the way, and leapt at the intruder, burying her blade three-fourths of the way into his back. _As it seems, you're at fault here, whatever you are._ She had quickly sussed out the situation, seeing that the blue, murderous thing wanted to kill the inhabitants of the huge, strange structure. _Murder is a crime, and it will be my pleasure to exact justice!_

"Gah!" The thing turned around, losing its focus on whatever it was trying to do. It faced her, and for a moment, she faltered. "YOU DARE INTERRUPT, FOOL?!" Suddenly, at the blink of an eye, she was batted away by the humanoid's hand, with a vicious smack. She flew into a stone railing… and it remained intact, save for a small dent. She shrieked in pain as she heard several bones in her rib cage and spine crack. "I AM TABUU, THE MASTER OF SUBSPACE! AND YOU! WILL! FEEL! MY! WRATH!" The wings sprouted again, seemingly there to warn offenders of an attack. She tried to get up, but then she was paralyzed. She could only stare in despair as the small, weak creatures attempted to protect the lady.

Then the Off Wave hit. She felt the most intense burning sensation course through her. It felt as if she had linked the First Flame… but only worse. She tried to resist, but then her mind itself was melting. She saw the small creatures get blown away by the Wave… but they were seemingly saved by the woman, who had woken up in the nick of time, and instantaneously formed shields around them and herself. The shields broke, and the woman, dazed, was knocked into what seemed like a library in the superstructure, now out of sight.

Then the Knightess couldn't take it anymore. A final infernal surge of pain swept through her, and as she blacked out, she saw the thing reach for the starlike beacon of the structure, evidently pleased. _Now, for the second time in my life, I have failed. Forgive me, Lord Gwyndolin, for I have failed to be the stauch warrior you had hoped I would be. And forgive me, dear Warrior, if I have misunderstood you…_ she lamented bitterly.A single tear rolled down her placid cheek.

Then she fell into the dark void of death.

* * *

The Knight had just reached the top of the steps and seen quite a scene before his eyes when the Off Wave hit him as well. He thanked his lucky stars that, as he had come up the stairs, he had cast Great Magic Barrier, expecting something magical no thanks to seeing them in the sky, floating down to the earth and tinged blue. Magic was ALWAYS azure these days... unless it was Dark magic, anyways. _Crikey, that was something! Still hurt me bad!_ He thought, landing at the bottom of the staircase shoulder-first.

For a few moments he stood, stock still, as he tried to process what he had seen and felt. The huge structure, the violent blue being, and worst of all, the dead Knightess. _No! I was too late to save her!_

Then he steeled himself. _Don't let the petty little emotions get to you, and you'll be able to do plenty!_ Said his friend Patches, on one day when the Undead gestured to all the (slightly) bloodstained Cleric clothes in his merchant's stock. _Hey, that's how I got to the kind of man you see me now. It's a living. I might be a bloodthirsty bastard, but come to think of it, I can go about the world unhindered by guilt or nostalgia or whatnot. And I have these terrible urges, too, while i run the business! But you, friend, are an exception, I can assure!_

 _Coming straight from a guy with a burning hatred against clerics._ He chuckled. _For now, we have some blue godlike thing to whack._

He pulled out Velka's Rapier, the Crest Shield, the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring and the Ring of Fog. He then hurried up the stairs, and saw that the humanoid was siphoning power from the starlike reactor. He immediately ran, and slashed, aiming for the wing and the hand. It produced the desired effect, eliciting a great howl from the giant, and cutting both appendages off as well.

* * *

Tabuu was pleased. Now he was sure, totally sure, that no one could stop him. The prissy little guardian of the cosmos was down for the count, as were all of the remaining Lumas, save for seven of them who lay groaning in a pile near the Terrace. They couldn't hurt a fly in their state. And as for the knight-lady, she was now in Death's cold embrace. Having one anchor of his power shattered sucked badly. But now the trouble was over.

He reached for the Beacon, and started exerting his will on it. "All it needs is a push in the right direction," said his trusty advisor, "then it will give you what you most desire." It took a full three minutes, then his jackpot came. A Grand Star came out of the reactor. He grabbed it eagerly, and in jubilation… when suddenly a phantom strike slashed his other wing off. Another one cut the hand holding the Grand Star off at the wrist. And last – yet definitely the worst strike of them all – a thrust through the belly.

He cried out in disbelieving pain. _I am Subspace itself! Nothing can maim me… but how?! What is this power?!_

He managed to grab the Star with his other hand, and this time, he loosed a very weak and uncharged burst of force. It knocked the man away, giving him the opening to start creating a portal and get the hell out of there. But suddenly, a shaft of volatile energy - was that sunlight? - struck the Grand Star. The excess of power proved too much for the Grand Star and it shattered, splitting into a mass of Power Stars. They flew off, but four remained in Tabuu's hand.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU DARE DEFY ME?!" he screamed, trying to score him with a Chain of Light, but missed. Irate, he tried again… and was sucked into the portal he created.

The undead stood and panted, shaky from this ordeal. _I dare defy you. You killed my friend in your pursuit for whatever you are after,_ thought the Undead. _Now the danger is over._ He sighed, then remembering someone, ran to the lifeless Darkmoon Knightess. _No. No!_ He thought bitterly as he gently untangled Knightess' body and armor from the railing. _You there, lady of the Darkling? Knightess?_

He sank to his knees, and a tear rolled down in his helmet. She really was dead now, her body stark cold… but suddenly he heard a voice call out from within.

* * *

And that's all for now! Stay tuned, people, and as always, rate and review! I have more time on my hands nowadays, but sadly I can't write – let alone use a computer – after today until the end of classes, March 18... Peace!

\\[T]/


	3. Initiative

Here it is, people! Yet another chapter! The ideas stream through yet… And now we see more and more things come into the light, like the Lumas and their personalities... but I'll be honest, that topic's hard to me. One thing that will always defeat me and elude my thinking is a child. They're that unpredictable and full of energy and potential.

Hope I wrote well!

And as per usual publication standards….

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dark Souls, Smash Bros., and their respective characters. That goes to FromSoftware and Nintendo… and, before I forget, their associated companies. Peace!

* * *

CHAPTER THE THIRD

"Is anyone there?"

The poor Knightess called out to the dark void she was in. It was surprising to her… that she still existed, persisted and was coherent. _But why? And for what purpose?_

 _It is your soul, Knightess._

An answering voice pierced the gloom; a strange resonance pulling her being strongly towards it… and suddenly she was in a throng of souls. A garrulous multitude of stark white sprites and large black Humanity phantoms quarreling among themselves for power. They stopped upon seeing the Knightess's luminous gray sprite float towards them, and she shuddered as they eyed her greedily. "We need you! Your essence!" They clamored ravenously, struggling to absorb her and take her very self for their selves. She struggled desperately, her willpower being her only weapon… and was about to be overrun when suddenly felt a commanding presence, and then the souls began to recede, skulking away sulking. Then he heard the unfamiliar, grating, yet soft voice speak…

 _A Firekeeper Soul is most unique, not just a wriggling mass of Humanity. It contains enough soul power to keep a Bonfire alive, and in case of the mortal vessel expiring, it continues to live on, unless its essence is used. Do you get what I imply? Or do I sound too complicated?_

She thought long and hard on who this voice belonged to. It was one she had not recognized yet… _Oh, my word!_ That immense soul power radiating from the owner... She had felt this in none but one – none other but the Knight. The one she'd gotten so pissed at for being indicted. "S-sir?! I-I-it is thee?! And your voice, too! You hast regained it! That is astounding, to say the least! But how?"

 _Let's just say you're in my bosom right now, which explains the other souls which tried to take your essence. We're talking thanks to the good graces of my mind. I managed to drive away the thing that killed you… but I was too late. Forgive me, I failed to keep you alive… But now your soul is safe with me. And no, I won't use you up._

"How can I trust thee?" She was beginning to grow less wary of him. His voice, ridden with guilt, was quite… genuine. Also, he had driven away all those souls from her, and if his claims were right, the huge violent thing… but there was still the issue of him being indicted.

 _You know…_ he started to reply, then sighed, _I really don't have much of a reason to spare you other than all the care you've given me. And my regret for hurting you._

"So you really are repentant? Huh," she retorted, "I thought your type was the bloodthirsty kind who manipulated their friend's feelings and double-crossed them… all for plain satisfaction."

 _Mhmmm. I was waiting for a wayward Blade of the Darkmoon to come get me… but it seems my luck is quite ill, for the time being. And about being bloodthirsty… let's just say I have two lousy defenses for that,_ he returned quite sheepishly. _I have a bloodthirsty friend who's influenced me somewhat, as comrades do. And by the time I used that Cracked Red Eye Orb, I was bloody bored. But, to be frank-_

"I think I know who that… friend of thine is. I've judged from that canting way of speech. It's that bloodsucker Trusty Patches, right?!" she exclaimed. "That vagabond!"

 _Well, after managing to outwit him twice, he begs for mercy and offers to throw in the Mask of the Father! How can I resist a deal like that?!_ She could imagine him throwing his hands up in the air.

"What an amusing turn of events, indeed… but I suppose, after all this… I've had a revelation visit me about thee." She chuckled succinctly, sensing his discomfort. "You're as kind and as gentle as I assume thee to be… but you need to know who to befriend. And that's definitely not counting any bloodthirsty murderer."

 _So you're forgiving me. Thanks a lot for that, Knightess. Well, to be honest with you, this isn't the first time I've had a conversation with a Firekeeper Soul._

"You – wait… you mean the soul you brought back to life? Anastacia of Astora? But why can you not bring ME back to life?" she returned bitterly. Then she heard quite a chilling answer.

 _I've tried, dear… But your body seems to have… melted. If only you could see it, Knightess. Then again, you wouldn't want to._

The Undead, frankly speaking, was revolted at the sight. Technically speaking, he couldn't really see the cadaver quite clearly; it was plainly just… a gut-roiling mixture of blood and bits of flesh which was slowly oozing out of several openings in the Brass Armor Set.

 _But… how can I see it?! Not while I'm stuck here in thine abysslike bosom…_ the Knightess complained.

"Wait," he replied, pulling out the fragile Firekeeper soul gingerly, and holding it in his palm freely so the poor Knightess could have a view.

A wave of revulsion suddenly surged through his hand. He couldn't control it as it coursed through his body… but he'd managed to run past the Knightess' mangled remains to the railing and flip his visor – enough so that the ensuing retch properly went out of his body onto the roof below.

After panting for a few seconds, Knightess broke the silence.

 _You were right, Sir. Ugh. I should learn to trust thee better. But how can I go about the world without fear of – hey!_ She complained as he suddenly absorbed her again, and started dashing toward the inside of Anor Londo's halls without even a thought. _Where are you taking me – oh, you MUST BE MAD –_

"Trust me, Knightess. It's a good plan, in my opinion…" he thought as, out of breath, he reached the Giant Blacksmith.

* * *

Meanwhile, after a Tabuu-induced unconsciousness, the poor Lumas finally woke up. They wobbled around, looking all over the Observatory for Mama halfheartedly. They looked, and looked, and searched… but all in vain. None of them could enter the Library nor the Engine Room; they were blocked by large broken chunks of concrete from the Beacon. That they could not manage. Despondent, they settled down in the Kitchen to think and talk.

"Gee, thanks, Oliver. You managed to wake up Mama with that bucket of water… and shield us… but now she's gone." Said Zachary, so far being the Luma who commanded the most respect and authority among all and was the eldest apart from Polari, who was too weak to even float around as usual. Presently, he was sitting on the patch of ground on the Terrace, which was the part which had smashed into Anor Londo.

"But she's gone, she's gone, she's gone!" rattled another Luma. "What do without her?!"

"Try checking the library! It's where we haven't looked-"suggested Louise, a cream-colored Luma.

"It's blocked! We can't get in!" exclaimed Oliver

"Lumas! It is about time you *cough* learn about initiative!" shrieked Polari. "How about you try to do things before…" he continued, getting more unintelligible, until he fainted again, being badly injured from the Shark Blade.

"You know, that's a great idea, initiative…" thought Zachary. Then a sudden angry frown crossed his features.

"Initiative… Zachary, what does that mean?" asked Scotty, the youngest of the remaining Lumas.

"It means to do things without being told." Replied Oliver, who was rewarded with sharp looks from most just everybody. "What? What did I do?"

"Nothing." Replied Zachary, a look of bitterness still on his visage. "The question is… what has Mama done? Lumas, what has she ever done to help us?"

"She takes care of us! She gives us food! She lets us have fun! And she reads us stories!" chorused some of the younger Lumas.

"And aside from that?" retorted Zachary. When no one dared speak… he continued relentlessly.

"She got us hurt bad this time! She spend more time with her friends! She doesn't say thank you to us! She makes do her work! She makes us fight and protect her – and we almost get killed too! Especially when we all dove into that stupid Black Hole! And we always have to go where she goes, which is nowhere fun! She grounds us! And she makes us think as if she loves us – but she doesn't! Especially with all her stupid rules!"

This caused the Lumas to gasp. "Zachary, don't say that! Mama and Polari will be mad, and – and – "

"And what, Scotty?" retorted Zachary. "I'm right and you know that! And now… she's gone! Along with Polari! They're both the same – they're just as bad! And they're both gone from our lives… and so are their rules!" Poor Scotty looked away in shame… but then the words hit home.

Suddenly, it dawned on the Lumas. A whole _cosmos_ to explore and to play in… without Mama and her silly rules to interfere. They thought of all the things they'd missed, of all the places they could've played in, the beaches, the really cool planets… and let's not forget all the food… if it weren't for Rosalina's constant chiding and nagging against them going out alone without her.

"You know, Zach… _you're right!_ " chirped Bob, a Hungry Luma who took his side. Soon enough, all the Lumas were with him. "But what's the plan?"

"We take the Starshroom and go out to the world! And now," Zachary gestured with a flourish, "We take _initiative!_ We can finally lead our own lives, in freedom! Oliver, what's keeping you?"

"I-I-I can't leave…"

"Why not?! Don't stay, we are free! Don't you get it?"

"This… this…" he gestured to the Comet Observatory, "this is my home. Our home."

"Our _home?_ With a "mama" who doesn't even love us, how can you call this home?! This is just one huge pile of rubbish we managed to live in for a long time! And now we can go freely out into the world, with nothing to hold us back… you still want to be here, where there isn't a mama anymore? Are you stupid, Oliver?" When Oliver remained silent, all the other Lumas laughed and jeered. "Come one, Oliver. One last chance." Said Zachary, now pointing towards the Starshroom defiantly.

" _No!"_ shrieked Oliver, equally stubborn. "I know Mama's around here somewhere! And I'm not going to just leave her!"

"Then so be it, _loser._ Go look for Mama all you want. As for us… we're winners. We can do what we want now." One by one, the Lumas piled into that Starshroom, then began having fun randomly pressing buttons. "Hey, guys, stop!" shrieked Zachary, who pointed to a huge green button. On the count of three, everyone press that! Three, two, one…"

With a sudden start, the Starshroom flew up and, crashing straight through a minaret in the Cathedral, and seemingly remaining in pristine condition, rocketed into the vacuum of space carrying five intrepid Lumas with it.

Leaving behind a very sad Oliver, a near-dead Polari, a destroyed Observatory, and a mother now almost all alone.

* * *

The Giant Blacksmith finally finished his newest work of art – a seemingly regular Estoc +5… except on one category.

After the usual payment and thanks, the Undead decided to start heading to the Cathedral's roof to check on the superstructure which had crashed onto it.

"Knightess, you there? Can you hear me? Knightess?"

The lack of reply suddenly startled him. What if his idea was a bust?

 _I'm here, I'm here, all right!_ She replied, quite annoyed at the fact that the Undead had decided to let her be forged into a measly sword. _Impressive idea, though… but I'll have to get used to this for a while. By the least, now I can see everything the blade's exposed to – hey!_ She exclaimed as the Knight, without warning, sheathed her. "I can't see – there we go – STOP!" she continued, very cross, as he began rapidly drawing and sheathing her, having some fun at her expense. "You're making me real dizzy, now!" He did halt… then began laughing incessantly, stopping and leaning against a pillar... which only angered the poor Knightess more. But then the laughter proved too contagious, and she began to see the humor of it all, first chuckling a bit, and then finally joining in as well, her giggles filling the space of the Undead's mind.

When they had finally regained composure, and started moving upstairs again, they started talking again, and she asked him some few, serious questions.

 _So, why exactly are we heading upstairs? Isn't that place dangerous?_

"Of course… but then there's the huge strange… eh, thing plastered to the top of it all. Methinks I saw a Library and a Kitchen in there – both good places to be in, unless you're in the Depths or Duke's." He answered hurriedly, and had to sprint away from a Silver Knight who'd nearly lopped his head off with a straightsword. He doubled back into a corridor, and hid, until the Silver Knight had lost interest. Then he stood still for a while, quite out of breath.

 _That was some good running and hiding there…_ the Knightess remarked, _and choosing not to fight, as well. Interesting tactic. Has the great Knight, champion of Undead, become a soft-hearted man?_

"Definitely not. Also, I was never good at choices, Knightess. Don't rub it in."

 _Ok, sorry, sorry… another question to keep us occupied as we go._

"Say it."

 _Have you ever fallen in love?_

This halted the undead for a moment, causing him to try to look further than his last coherent memory… but no. Those memories were… long gone now. Although… there was that tiny shred of coherence pertaining to his family.

"I can't seriously remember… but my body seems to remember being loved by - hey, I don't mean it that way!" he protested while the Knightess took her turn to laugh at his expense.

 _Ok, ok, sure! Trying to weasel out of things, thou are!_

"Well, what about you, knightess?" he retaliated. "Have you fallen in love?"

After a few moment's silence, she spoke. _Sir, you're quite bad at spotting things obvious to common people. Yes, I have been in love. And yes, I fell in love with one person I cared for deeply, who betrayed my ideals, and yet is willing to plod back to me and apologize. I fell in love with you, of all people… because hey, you were – and always will be – the closest person to me, one who I have not only guided but also guided me as well._

Dumbfounded, the Undead replied, "E-ehh… w-well, feelings and affections… I'm not really good at spotting them. You were quite… subtle, under your armor. Your voice… well, I suspected it a bit, but… I thought it was mere friendship. Anyway, I'm quite curious, where did I guide you?"

 _Mere friendship, heh. You ARE indeed terrible at telling love apart from friendship... And as for guiding me, you did so in the waning years in my life, and taught me a few things. That love can indeed bring even the greatest of warriors to their knees… much like you did, when you could not bring yourself to draw against me. But that was a short while, anyways. And another thing. That love could indeed forgive any wrong. But now… now I'm a sword. I don't know how I can express my love now. And let's not forget the fact that I'm not alive anymore, basically..._ He felt a great sadness course through the blade. Guess this was how she could express herself now.

"And now you're my sword, ready to lay waste upon the enemies of your love. That is why I forged you into a sword, dear knightess." he replied gently and soothingly. Not only so you could be my blade, and thus guide me, but also so you could remain far from danger when it came to being consumed. Lastly, I can simply spread Repair Powder on you when you're hurt. Just say the word. Ah, here we are." He then began ascending the staircase leading to the roof.

He felt a burst of warm, fuzzy emotions course gently through the sword through his hand and into his bosom. _Thanks for giving me this kind of worth, dear friend. And for the talk, as well. Your voice is quite pleasant to hear… even if it's tainted by the canting talk of that bastard Patches, heh._

"And you're welcome, Knightess." He said as they reached the roof, and walked toward the Observatory. After quite a… entertaining discourse, they weren't disappointed by what they saw.

It was the strangest, most alien building they'd seen in their lives… and yet, it was magnificently done, in a way they could hardy describe. A tall, eloquent spire with a miniature sun burning in it, a huge building with an equally huge spoon and fork on one façade, a patch of… plainsland, was it?! Then a library, they noted, which walls looked like shelves themselves but had an entrance full of smashed concrete, a building continually spewing out water from two sides of it, a purple domelike structure surrounded by felt, and a patch of shiny, metallic ground which seemed to have no purpose at all. And apart from a few chunks of concrete missing, the spire being broken, and a few parts of the whole being smashed into Anor Londo's buildings, it was still quite an eloquent structure.

After a few seconds of staring, they conferred.

"Should we bust into it? Or should we just leave it?" asked the Undead. "It seems lots of things of value could be found – "

 _That would be unlawful,_ the Knightess retorted, _but I still say we should look into it._

"Why, then, if not for gain?" he replied. "You're being confusing here."

 _Can't you see the purpose of this all? As far as I can see, these things are the make of someone coherent – if not Human, then just another being – for it to live in. It might be in there at this moment, even! Then we could ask for things out of this world! Without breaking the law and our codes of honor, most importantly._

"Hmm. You do have some insight there. Shall we enter, then?"

The undead then decided to take some steps onto the earth which had crashed into the roof. The earth was grassy, and so far, ordinary plainsland, indeed. "So far, so good. Nothing bad happening, I'd reckon -"

Then suddenly, something tiny barreled into him. It surprisingly managed to knock him over, but then it suddenly chirped… and the sound seemed so pitiful it made him think twice about using Knightess to whack it into oblivion.

The thing looked like a blue teardrop with stubby arms and two black eyes. Currently, it was frantically waving around, chirping and squealing, tugging him and pointing intently to the library's concrete barrier. Then it hit them.

 _Debris. The poor thing wants to get in. Told you there would be living things on this place._ The Knightess sighed in his mind sympathetically. "So, knightess? You're better versed in diplomacy than I am. What should we – "

 _Oh, dear me, use thine common sense! Help him!_ He could imagine the poor Knightess facepalming.

"Eh, sure." He then stepped over to the blockage, and painstakingly but quickly removed a chunk of concrete from the bottom. _No, dummy, you're supposed to start from the top-_

Big mistake indeed. The entire pile suddenly teetered and crashed on top of him, and then some. At the end of the resulting avalanche, he was under the whole pile, about a ton heavier than him. But at least he was still alive. Before his entire energy was spent trying to not get crushed he quickly used Wrath of the Gods, and in a split-second all of the debris was sent flying away from him and the Library. Only a few stray chunks remained which landed into the other Domes and buildings.

As he took two deep swigs from his Estus flask, Knightess began to browbeat him. _Next time, look at things more carefully! And above all, use your common sense! And before I forget, don't rely on your being undead too much! You've already lost too much of your memories! Understood?!_

"Ok, ok, momma! Calling me dummy won't help, though…" he rebutted quite sheepishly. There was no end to the tribulations of this day… but by the very least he wasn't bored anymore. And that made him quite satisfied. "All in a day's-"

Suddenly, he felt a warm presence leap into his chest, nearly knocking him over for the second time. When he'd managed to scoop it up in his arms, he saw that it was the small blue thing from a while ago. It was chirping happily, and from the look on its' eyes, it was clear he'd made a friend.

 _Awww, its' adorable…_ crooned the Knightess. He snorted, but then she continued on, and that gave him an idea. _Why, that's one of the things you should do. Befriend people or things who aren't bloodthirsty._ He then felt some condescending, snarky jolt of emotion flow from the sword into him.

"You're damn good at expressing yourself, Knightess" he thought back. "Ok, sure, I will. With your guidance, eh?"

Then the thing leapt into the entryway to the Library. It stopped for the moment, and bid him follow.

 _Sheathe me. Show you mean no harm._

"You absolutely fine with that?" the Warrior thought back. "About not seeing, that is-"

 _That I will gladly put up with. So long as you can befriend him. Then I'll be happy._

"Aw, that's sweet." He immediately felt sarcasm rush into his hand as he sheathed Knightess. "In we go, then…" He crossed the threshold through a corridor full of shelves, some of which were smashed by loose chunks of concrete which flew in, no thanks to the Wrath of the Gods shockwave.

Little did he know he was going to see one of the most stunning, stellar sights of his life, one that would change him for as long as he lived.

* * *

And that's about it for now! And since I have the majority of summer to write… stay tuned!

\\[T]/


	4. A Revelation Visits Her

Here we are, guys! After lengthy amounts of brainstorming I finally come up with this!

Thanks for all the new views and reviews, guys! They help me write better :D Well, hope I did write better in this new chapter!

And as per publication standards…

DISCLAIMER! I do not own Dark souls, Smash Bros., or the Super Mario Galaxy series; that goes to FromSoftware, Nintendo, and their associated companies. Peace!

* * *

CHAPTER THE FOURTH

Rosalina awoke amid piles of rubble. Disconcerted, she slowly sat up, her head ringing.

She was in the Fountain… but not the Fountain she knew and built. It was quite defiled, chunks of its' walls and roofing missing; the waters, now just a trickle, were quite muddy and filthy. She felt a surge of revulsion and fear course through her shaken mind. _Oh, dear… what are we going to drink now? The cruel –_ She suddenly heard a titanic CRASH outside, and pitiful squeals following it. _Oh, you will NOT kill my children! Not this time!_

She rushed outside filled with an overpowering, protective rage, when suddenly something flashed by and buried itself into her chest. Shocked and in pain, she couldn't resist but be flung around by the chain of light. She was mercilessly smashed into several hard fixtures, and finally was untangled in a heap on the Bedroom's threshold.

For a few minutes, she saw nothing but stars. When the haze cleared she shakily got up – surprised she still could - and sized up the situation around her. The Beacon was now a plain ruin, the star in its center now gone, and its tall spire broken. Most of the buildings and Domes were just piles of rubble, some of them being licked by large tongue of flame. Worse were her children, the Lumas, who were everywhere, badly bruised and bleeding, lying motionless on the floor. _This… this has never happened before! Never on my watch! The bleeding seems… strange, though…_

She cried out in rage and grief. All her work… her family… gone. All thanks to some stupid subspace Neanderthal who was currently gloating over her apparent demise. "You fool! You could not even resist! Now all of the cosmos will be mine!" he chortled, holding up the Grand Stars she had sworn to protect. She steeled herself, clutching her wand. "Soon, all your puny little friends will perish! And there will be no one to stop my power!"

This was the last straw. Not that she had plenty friends anyway. She had only few… but still, they were her friends, and now that her family was gone… she had nothing but them. Peach. Daisy. Palutena. Shulk. Samus. Kirby. Mario. And Luigi…

She mustered whatever power remained in her, managed to conjure a halo, and threw determinedly it at the nightmare. _I might be bleeding out… dying… but I won't go out without hurting him._

Apparently, she couldn't. The inhuman thing simply _shrugged it off,_ literally. "Don't you think that, after getting my power, I wouldn't put it to good use yet? Especially when there are ants like you to smash – hey, where'd she go?"

The woman in question had vanished into the Library. She fell to her knees, grunting in pain, as the world swirled around her and as she tried to stay awake desperately. Blood was pouring out of her chest, her mouth, her wounds, but she managed to stay up. _She could not fail._

Suddenly, a Dragon Laser tore through the wall, missing her by a hair. A Chain of Light followed, skewering her _again_ and embedding itself into the wall, prompting a hearty shriek. A rain of bullets then followed, but she managed to cast even the weakest of shields, which deflected some of them.

When the dust cleared she was battered, bruised and bloody… but now this time the strain was too great, and she had given up. But somehow, somewhat… _she could not fall into unconsciousness._ She was trapped in this pain now. _End this, coward! At least give me this mercy…_

Tabuu entered, and seemingly hearing her thoughts, suddenly reached out and began siphoning her essence. "It's a shame, but now you'll have to die."

As she grew weaker _still,_ and as the pain grew immense and the dark void of death finally began creeping up on her, she heard the thing laugh at its' success.

 _All I can hope for… is someone or something to be able to put up a fight against this thing._

* * *

Oliver had found his mama. At long last. But something was wrong with her. Blood was pouring out of her nose in an even stream, and she was asleep. She wouldn't wake up despite his best efforts.

She was very sick, as he could see. No, not dead. Not the D-word, now. That was too much.

"Mama! Mama! Stay with me! Mamaaaa…!" he shouted. But after a few minutes more of poking, shouting and jostling Rosalina, Mama still didn't wake up. That did it for the poor Luma. Now he was all alone.

"Mama… mama's dead!" he exclaimed. Then did the tears spring uncontrollably to his eyes. "NO!" He began to sob, the shudders of grief wracking his body. Polari, who had since woken up, had floated to the doorjamb and wept, albeit more quietly.

Then suddenly a warm steel gauntlet patted the poor thing on the back, and when he turned around he saw Stranger holding a strange yellow bottle. "Oh, stranger, help! Help mama! Let her live!" Stranger might not have understood him, but had helped him before, with the huge concrete chunks... Now maybe he could make a miracle work this time. Oliver leapt into his chest (to the mild astonishment of Polari), and he hugged back, then gently set him down beside mama.

* * *

"Well, Knightess, what can you say about this?"

 _You're smitten over her._

"Nope. Wrong assumption, lady - "

 _I can feel it within you~_

"Shut up, knightess – "

 _See, you're in denial~ Ahuhuhuhu~_

"When could you ever read me so well? And adapt to how I talk?! And be obnoxious?!"

 _Ever since you turned me into a sword, I guess. But I'll guess you're seeing one of the prettiest ladies in your life, eh?_

"I have no idea how being smithed into a sword actually made you become all those, but that guess… Now _that_ guess is right."

And indeed it was. What the Knight saw through the visor was a woman of exquisite beauty. (Apart from the blood pooling through her nose, that is.) As far as he could make out, she had quite a slender, yet unusually large build, a face with sharp, pretty features and small lips, and sandy hair which swept down from her head. She was dressed in quite a simple blue evening gown and shoes – which only helped accentuate the entire look. To top it all off, a silver crown lay beside her delicate head. A sure sign of royalty, that.

After a few moments of staring at unadulterated beauty, Knightess brought him back to reality. _Uh, hey, sir, um, couldn't you snap out of your trance and help the poor woman?_ Startled, the Warrior mumbled an apology. "Eh, sure, sure! Wait, where was it again…?"

He began pulling out the various things which made up his inventory, all the while looking for that bottle of Divine Blessing he'd bought from Patches. "Quite expensive, yes, but it's the best at healing any sort of malady you get while traveling – and when you run out of flask charges! Now for only 20,000 souls, friend!" he'd proudly described it. Now the Warrior nearly regretted buying the thing, which he'd almost never used – up till now, he'd been depending on his Estus Flask and Humanities – the latter being of great quantity. Also, let's not forget, Rhea sold the same item at only a thousand souls apiece, and Alvina gave it to you for free. And that more were scattered across various places in Lordran.

When he'd finally found it he'd taken it out, and walked over to the little blue thing, which was cuddling up to her and squealing desperately, and placated it. "Looks like she's the kid's mother… or guardian… if she was the mother I can't imagine what happened." he thought. He then uncapped the bottle, opened the lady's mouth, and poured in the contents. The thing took effect immediately. A warmth spread as the holy water entered into the woman's mouth, into her throat and the rest of her body, completely healing her.

* * *

Suddenly, the scales tipped. She felt something immensely soothing and empowering course through her… like the warm sun on a bright afternoon. _Power. Sweet, sweet power..._ She suddenly felt her whole body ease up, the bruises fading, the wounds closing. _Got to end this._ She quickly channeled this newfound power through the nearest outlet – the chain. _Surprising to find so much of it!_ Without warning a blast of jagged lightning surged through the chain and into Tabuu, breaking it. The beast, meanwhile, was flung into a wall with a sickening crunch.

She took the opportunity to charge a ball of cosmos – but this time it was now a strangely familiar spear of sunlight. _I swear I've seen this before… just don't know right now. Nor do I need to._ She quickly chucked the Sunlight Spear at the vile beast, sending it to kingdom come. The only traces of it left were a smattering of blue dust.

She panted for a while, expecting the effects of strain to come upon her in moments… but no. This was disconcerting for her. She shook her head vigorously, attempting to at least feel something normal, when she suddenly remembered. _The Lumas!_ She rushed outside, fearing for the Lumas when she noticed everything was in pristine condition. And so were her starchildren. They noticed their mama, and rushed over, embracing her. No words were said… but only one thought was on poor mama's mind.

 _How? That all felt so real! Most especially the pain!_

Suddenly the Comet Observatory faded out of view, and then she was under a tree on a bright meadowed hill. _What in the-_

" _It is a mere dream, daughter."_

She heard the spectral voice speak out from beside her. She turned, and saw the Cosmic Spirit shimmer into view. It, as we all know, a spectral blue version of Rosalina… yet much more ancient.

"Are-are you really – "The spectre nodded. "M-mother? You – here – but how?" she exclaimed. "And why only now, instead of – of long ago? You could've warned me about now!"

The spirit merely gazed at Rosalina nostalgically. _"Ah, you look so much like me, indeed… but it is in height where your father shines in you. Oh, forget about melancholy for a while. I am here because my consciousness managed to fuse with stardust. The only problem with that is that I can only manifest myself for about fifteen minutes at a time. Now I just watch over the cosmos, just like you, but on a less grand scale. Many a time have I guided your intrepid friends when they were at a loss on finding routes to stars they needed. But for now, I came back to you in order to guide you on what will soon happen, dear. And I don't exactly have all the time in the world."_

Rosalina stood dumbfounded at what her mother had said. She'd been around before now? Helping her friends? And not visit her at all? She felt a wave of annoyance rush into her. "Why not go to your daughter first?!"

" _Common sense will tell you that the universe is immense, if not infinite. And after two years' worth of flitting about in space I find you in the grasp of the cretinous Bowser. Which is why I had to aid your friends first. Forgive me for that, will you?"_

"I-I see, mother. I forgive you." Rosalina replied quite sheepishly. That time she had let her guard down and decided to let the Lumas pilot the Observatory, since they'd asked for it plenty. They ended up crashing into an asteroid, where the Grand Stars had been flung forth by the impact, only to be scooped up by the good ol' King Koopa. "But what exactly would you aid me with, mother? Is it about the anomaly? Or is it about my own life?"

Rosalina felt an intense disapproval radiate from her mother. _"Tut-tut-tut. Do not deride the poor being you label an anomaly. Call him something which gives him dignity. He has his own life to live as well, and he has power beyond measure. If you do treat him well you will have a very powerful asset in your arsenal. But if you don't… do know that he has slain gods. And he will not hesitate to slay anyone in his path."_

"You mean the blue subspace Neanderthal?"

" _No, I mean the anomaly you came for, in the land of ancient lords, the land you are in now."_ The spirit suddenly sighed quite sadly. _"There is also something you must know about your children… but-"_

"The Lumas?! A-are they dead?!" Rosalina's eyebrows knitted together in concern.

" _Worse."_

That was quite horrible on poor Rosalina. What could be worse than death? And to think this all happened on her watch. After all the pain, the hardships, and - let's not forget - the resets that she and her children endured… all her tender loving care had been put to waste.

She couldn't take it anymore. She sank to her knees, put her hands on her head and began to weep bitterly. The Cosmic Spirit did what a mother should – console her, and put her in her warm embrace. _"My daughter, forgive me if I give you this bad piece of news, but – "_

"I'm a failure, mother! I've failed my children and the universe!" The poor daughter wailed in between sobs. It was rare to see her break down like this, but when it happened... oh, it was terrible. "I let them be condemned to a fate worse than death! And now the Grand Stars –"

"– _are safe, thanks to the timely intervention of the so-called anomaly, and one of his cohorts."_

Rosalina suddenly looked up in aplomb. "You mean-"

" _He is on your side. But as for the Lumas… Your remaining children also seem to have taken a liking to him. The rest of them, however, were disillusioned by your care, and within them grew the seed of rebellion which sprouted today. Now, they've left on your other spaceship."_

That took a while to sink in. The Lumas… losing trust in her? There could only be one reason.

"So I _am_ a horrible mother after all! Those people who hated me… they were right. I could never live up to you… or them…" railed Rosalina.

Now she could remember all the times she had been ridiculed for being the worst character in Nintendo. All the snide and the insults thrown at her appearance, her personality, her _everything._ Most especially for being "a dirty Peach clone", overrated, overpowered, having a terrible, convoluted personality and in taking care of the Lumas. They told her she was too strict, that she was ungrateful, that she never gave any credit to her children, and that Samus was a better mother than she was. She'd done to prove the ridicule wrong… but now all of it was true.

" _Those accusations might be in a way true now, dear daughter,"_ said the Spirit, holding her daughter closer, _"but there's always the future to look toward. Use the experience to strengthen yourself. And if you can remember, the blue subspace Neanderthal started it all. There, there, let it all out…"_

After a few minutes the wailing had diminished into sobs, then sniffles, and in a few minutes more she had regained composure, although the look on her face was still quite morose. "Thanks a lot, Mother. But… why did they rebel?"

" _That I do not know, dear daughter. But as for now, you will have to regain what you have lost. Do not fret, dear daughter of mine… I did not come to break your spirit, but I am now here to guide you as well. You're right in saying you've made mistakes, but making blunders like these still does not mean that the tiniest of your errors cannot be given remedy to. Understood?"_

"Yes, mother." Rosalina sighed and gave herself a tiny smile. Seeing her mother supporting for the first time in years, millennia, eons… it gave her the will to keep on moving forward for the good of all.

" _That's better. Chin up, dear daughter. My time's up. I'll have to go. Don't worry, I'll be seeing you as often as I can. And remember, you now have a valuable ally in the Undead who helped you."_

"Undead? You mean a zombie's my best friend now?" Rosalina exclaimed – but her mother had vanished from view, leaving her alone in the tree on the hill. "Gee, mom, thanks. Though I do need some more of that parenting counseling." She sighed.

Then suddenly everything took on a strange, underwater-like quality, then she felt her lungs grow heavy, and then her vision suddenly blacked out several times… and when her exposed eye finally refocused, she was awake.

She blinked the haze out of her eyes, and when she finally saw things clearly, she saw the strangest anomaly she'd seen in millennia.

A knight. A real-life knight in quite grimy, bloodstained armor. A slender sword in its sheath hung from his side, an elaborately decorated shield on his back, and a greatsword as well, which seemed to be of German make. He was holding a strange yellow flask, and another, more lucent flask was stuffed into a pouch on his belt. Presently he was placing the other bottle back into his pocket when he noticed she was awake. He then backed off a bit and rested on a wall, merely watching them. _Like a predator eyeing his prey._ She shuddered.

So this was the anomaly. The undead, as her mother had called it. _Guess I'll have to talk to you later, sir._

Then Oliver and Polari noticed her too, though, and soon she was mobbed by her two remaining children. One weak with both age and injury, and one strong with youth. "Mama!" "Mi-milady! You live!" "Stranger brought you back to life!"

 _Oh. Guess that's what the flask was for_. She got up, and only then did she notice the blood pooling on the floor from her nostrils. _Looks like he's did a real good job too!_ She wiped the blood away with her sleeve – undignified, maybe, but she had no handkerchiefs on her person right now. "That's good to hear. Thank you for remaining loyal to me… both of you… I know what happened." She let out a deep, sad sigh. "But we will have to get out of this place for now. We have found what we are searching for – and yet so easily as well."

"You mean – you know what happened to Zachary?" screamed little Oliver. "He started it! He started everything! He told us you were bad, and you didn't help us, and you made us do your work, and you didn't take us anywhere fun! But I didn't believe him, and I stayed, and they left us!" Oliver was now close to tears.

That seemed to hit Rosalina hard. All the things Zachary had said… they were true, at least in the Lumas' perspective. Now she knew where she'd screwed up, she'd be able to take care of them better… or so she'd thought, anyways. If only they'd told her!

"I see. We will have to find him too, and have a reckoning with him and the other Lumas…" Rosalina gathered Oliver up in her arms and let him cry for a bit, stroking his back until he stopped. "There, there, it's all right. Now, where's - Polari, what's wrong?"

The erstwhile Luma advisor was on the ground, clearly weak, starting to fade. "Milady… the infernal thing has struck me mortally, but I have enough power to transform, just yet." Then did they notice the scar on him caused by the Shark Blade. It was long and jagged, and had a malevolent blue tint to it.

"Oh, no… the beast… are you sure about this decision of yours, Polari?" Rosalina returned, the morose expression on her face once more. Another one of her children down, leaving just her and Oliver. And in a single day.

"It is the only way, milady."

"Then so be it."

Quite weary, Rosalina held out her hand, and directed some energy towards Polari. He would need this last bit of energy to make up for what he'd lost in his injuries. Strangely, she felt as rejuvenated as she was in the dream. _Thanks a lot, sir Stranger,_ she thought, smiling to herself.

A brilliant flash of light and warmth ensued for a full fifty seconds.. When their eyes had cleared, before them lay a Grand Star in all of its glory and power. After a long minute passed, Rosalina broke the profound still.

"A fitting final act from Polari." She said, the tears springing to her eyes, but repressed quite easily.. "Thank you, dearly. You will live on forever in our hearts."

Oliver leapt up to Mama's slender arms. "Does that mean we're alone now?" He started to cry again, but then Rosalina quickly kissed him on the forehead, hushed him and and smiled at him, calming him down.

"Not quite. We always have each other." She smiled and pointed to the knight leaning against the wall. "We also have your friend over there."

* * *

And that's it for now, folks! As usual, stay tuned for newer chapters, and don't for get to rate and review!

P.S.! Don't be afraid to point out mistakes in my work, if any. It's good enough to recieve constructive criticism. Everyone makes mistakes, and, I quote the Cosmic Spirit, making grave errors doesn't mean the smallest of mistakes cannot be given remedy to. Peace out!

\\[T]/


	5. Warmth

April Fools, everyone!

And another chapter! Sorry if this took too long, guys, I had the minimum of summer to deal with, for now… and I sure worked myself down to the bone.

In here, we have the first time our intrepid protagonists interact. I personally had the most difficulty creating a backstory for the undead, and having a plausible conversation between the two of them. If there's one thing I suck at, it's socializing. I tend to keep to myself these days… but anyways, I hope I don't let you down!

And as per publication standards…

DISCLAIMER! I do not own Dark souls, Smash Bros., or the Super Mario Galaxy series; that goes to From Software, Nintendo, and their associated companies. Peace!

* * *

CHAPTER THE FIFTH

The undead was in a state of euphoria. As he watched the woman care for the small, blue thing, and help a similar small brown thing turn into a larger luminescent star-shaped object, his thoughts were all a blur. "Hmm… she is indeed the mother of those things… but what on earth happened to that brown thing? This is one strange brood, indeed-"

 _Strange or not, I'm quite sure you'll be willing to put up with it all because you're in love…_

"You're right, Knightess, I am smitten, and I won't deny it…" He'd caught a glimpse of her entirety for the first time… and now had decided she was way more adorable standing up than sprawled on the floor. She was taller than him by just a wee bit, and she had the right side of her face covered by length of her sandy hair. Her elegant teal dress flowed all the way to her feet, the silver crown now sat neatly on the peak of her head, and she held a strange short catalyst in her hands, emblazoned by a golden star. She exuded confidence and dignity all throughout… but he could see hints of great sadness on her visage, no doubt left by that huge blue murderer.

 _Aww, that's adorable~_ replied the now triumphant sword. _The prettiest woman you've ever seen, right here, ready for you to scoop up in your warm, protective arms! I bet you're so happy you could squirm!_

"You're not helping, Knightess! Argh, I feel so juvenile right now- this is so strange, really, I'm yet so new to love…. But the thing is, I can't talk, and she doesn't know that, which might cause her to think I'm some sort of silent maniac. What now? "

 _Then it's up to thine body to speak, of course. Don't worry about that, I've seen you go at it before. Like when you killed that bloodthirsty Lautrec. That gesture, followed by pointing at him, then down to the ground, which just pisses him off, makes him focus less on the actual fight-_

"Wait, you saw that?" returned a surprised undead. "You left your post just to see that?!"

 _Nah, I just sat around minding my own business when I heard sounds of one mighty scuffle upstairs. Then I wanted to take a peek, and since I was a Blade of the Darkmoon I invaded Lautrec's world as well. But you held your own, so I decided to just leave._ she returned _. Anyways, it's fine, you can do this!_

"I never see dear old Knightess this supportive before… oh wait, here she comes-"

The woman in question suddenly drew closer to him, gave him such a magnificent smile, and then…

* * *

Rosalina's mind was now set. It was time to collect the anomaly and take it back to Master Hand in one piece. She crossed her fingers, hoping she'd at least manage do this job right. _Remember, Rosa,_ she reminded herself, _Follow Mom's advice. He's also got feelings. Don't hurt him in any way, and make sure he's in one piece. Above all… make your mother proud, eh? Here goes!_

She steeled herself, making doubly sure she didn't show any wariness, walked towards the knight, put on her best used car saleswoman smile, and started.

"Hello, sir! Thanks a lot for healing me and saving my life. I assume you have also driven off the huge blue murderer. That's quite phenomenal of you!" He nodded, partly in assent and with a small amount of pride at his handiwork, as it seemed. "My child and I are forever grateful for what you have done for us. I am Rosalina, watcher of the cosmos, and this is my remaining child Oliver." she began, gesturing to the Luma, who was now sitting onto her shoulder and bearing a Cheshire smile. Her face betrayed yet a fleeting amount of sadness, but she managed to keep the smile up. _Hold it in, Rosalina. Don't let it show._ "This is my home, the Comet Observatory. How about you, sir? Pray tell, what is your name?"

A shrug.

She was taken aback quite a bit. "Y-you don't know? Strange… you must be one of those amnesiac types. Do you get what I am saying?" Another shrug. "I see. To be speaking simply, you're one of those people who forgot a chunk of their past." A nod. "Ok. There we go… but why all the shrugging?"

No response.

Feeling wary, Rosalina assumed he was repulsed at her. "You don't want to talk to me?" she returned, quite affronted at his refusal to speak. _Hey, you've got a mouth, use it!_ This rare mannerism of keeping silent when spoken to reminded her of a fellow smasher - Villager, who rarely spoke to people, unless he saw fit. Whenever someone tried to befriend him, talk to him, he'd just… stare with a blank expression on his face. That was one kind of guy no one liked and feared in equal accounts… and she sure didn't want this anomaly to become as such. _This is gonna be hard for both of us…_

Yet another sullen silence ensued. Suddenly, something struck her. "Are you mute, sir?" _Oh dear. If he's going to become hostile all because I was mad at him, I wouldn't hear the end of it from Master Hand._

The undead then suddenly jerkily pointed to his mouth, then quickly afterwards shook his head. That Rosalina immediately understood. "Oh, you are mute… forgive my anger…"she returned quite hastily. She sure didn't want to fail at another responsibility of hers all because of one small assumption. "I prejudged and misjudged you all the same… can I look at your mouth, if it's the cause of the muteness? I might be able to help you remedy it!" A talent granted by the starstuff found in everything - starstuff she could control, meld and replace, and which could coalesce into other objects... or mend them.

After a few moments' waiting, she saw the undead reach up to his helmet, and suddenly she was staring at a mouth opened wide, revealing a short stub of a tongue with a strange set of indentations on it. As if it had been branded in some way. She felt a gut-roiling wave of disgust go up her throat… but she managed to repress the shudder.

 _Good grief!_

* * *

The undead seriously thought things weren't going as planned. At first he thought he was fine. Those initial questions were just fine. Then came the issue of his muteness. Sure, she was pissed! But thank heavens, she'd managed to realize he was mute the whole time.

"But why does she have to be enraged, knightess?"

 _She's assumed you can still talk, and wanted to avoid talking, like any silent maniac. You were right in that prediction, but you're lucky she'd also saw the possibility of your being mute. Clear up the situation. Say, just point to your mouth and shake your head._

"Thanks, knightess." He sighed in relief as the woman stammered out an apology. Then she'd offered something which turned his world upside down. An offer to heal his tongue.

Then did the undead fall into a dilemma. His muteness was strangely one thing he could not heal, even with all the Estus, Humanities, healing miracles, and assorted healing items he had used. It was, unfortunately, one of his most well-guarded secrets as to why he was mute. The story behind that was one fraught with pain, regret and shame... But an offer to heal it, say, straight from the most magnificent lady he'd ever seen, who came from the heavens with power beyond measuring? It was worth risking a secret for.

"What now, Knightess? This offer of hers is… quite tempting…."

 _Why not, man? ,_ she replied, _is it some big issue of thine to be healed from muteness? Or are you hiding something?_

"It's the latter choice."

 _Then don't be scared about losing your secret. You can always say it's a secret as to why you're mute… and if she does find out, maybe there's a chance she'll keep it a secret too. And it'll bring you closer, too! But do tell me this, sir. I'm a sword, I can't just blab about it._

"Oh, I'm sure she'll find out… sooner or later… but bringing us closer? Now that's some good insight. For now, I can't really trust her… but if what she says is a guarantee, then I'll take it. Don't worry. You'll see the memory flash by, I think. Here goes nothing…"

He flipped his helmet's visor up to his mouth, and opened wide. Enough for the world itself to see his shame.

His tongue had been cut out by his superiors, thanks to a certain incident in his training.

* * *

The knightess shuddered at what she was seeing. Not only the tongue, and the lady in blue's shocked expression, but the memory flashing through the Undead's mind.

It was one of his earliest remaining memories, and the one that stung the most. It had all started one fateful day when he was still a squire in Carim, at the tender age of sixteen… and while he was still a regular Human, as well. It had all began after training, and he'd heartily got himself cut on the back by his opponent that time. He'd headed to the infirmary, eager for the usual bandage and styptic he'd get for a scratch like that. After the medic set him right, he'd walked out of the infirmary and ran straight into one of his superiors, who suddenly pulled him aside.

"Listen here" he had said, "thou hast done well so far, in thine training. You've proven an excellent shot, a good enough swordsman, and a genteel fellow, lad. Now since thou hast proven yourself, we hast something to show you."

He was quickly led to a kitchen, and was surprised to find out there was a strange mechanism which suddenly opened up a passage leading underground. _And I thought most of these secrets were hidden behind the largest shelves in libraries._

They'd passed through a twisting maze of tunnels, and at the end of it they reached a huge cavern filled with the most riches he'd seen in his life. On one cavern wall he saw sets of armour and weapons, and could feel a strange resonance from them. On another side he saw several stone chests filled with the treasures of Carim; like Purging Stones, jewelled rings and heaps of gold. Towering above this all in the middle of this cavern was an immense statue of none other than Velka, the Goddess of Sin.

"So now we show this to thee, noble squire, that you may be motivated in thine training. Thou may choose to avail of two treasures in this cairn when thou becometh a knight. This is the treasure of the late Earl Arstor, the last of the honest leaders of Carim. Since his death, our country has been degraded and mocked by others, no thanks to all the sinners and tarnation flitting about and committing vile acts, left unchecked by our current leader, who merely simpers around in his estate. Unbecoming of great Carim, don't thou think? Understood?"

"Understood, sir!" he had replied quite enthusiastically.

"Let it be that you have three responsibilities from now on. One, to bring the name of Carim to justice. Two, to finish thine training. And three… to keep this all a secret." His superior continued. "If thou even lets slip a word of the sights in this cavern… thou will have to be punished with methods of our own discretion. Understood?"

"Understood!"

For three long years he'd managed to keep it a secret. Despite all the people trying to pry into that particular issue he'd managed to evade all the questions, twisting the story and saying the superiors had been browbeating him for getting wounded that day. That was plausible, but there was always that one guy who doubted you.

And that man was Lautrec.

They'd been to the same camp now, although the squire had been here earlier. Lautrec came last year. They'd gotten along fine, but ever since he'd heard about the incident the squire would always see Lautrec scrutinizing him with those piercing eyes of his with a bitter visage. _As if he's sizing up his prey. I'll show him I'm one to be reckoned with._

A few days after his nineteenth birthday (which, of course, they celebrated with a sumptuous feast and a cask of fine wine) he'd been cut again in morning jousts and was heading down to the infirmary. The hallway was deserted that time… or so he'd thought.

Suddenly he was pinned against the wall, being throttled by Lautrec's mighty right hand, the other holding a dagger across his throat. "You think you're all so mighty with that secret of yours, eh?"

"No, but you think you're so high and mighty knowing that I've got one-"he'd retorted before he could check himself. _Blimey. He caught me there._

Lautrec smirked a deadly grin, pleased at his handiwork. "Keh heh heh heh heh… so there is a secret! You can't deny it now! Well, well, is it treasure? Or a dragon, hidden away from the populace, perhaps? And don't even think about pulling out that puny sword of yours, bah! It'll cost you!" _And now I'm helpless. Damn you._

No answer. _I won't give you the satisfaction._ He did his best to remain blank… but the tiniest bit of dismay crossed his face.

"So it is treasure! Ahahahahahaha! I can see from your expression" The twisted grin played across Lautrec's face as he chortled at his success, relaxing his stance and withdrawing the knife. The poor squire dropped down to the ground, not knowing what to do next. He knew he was under Lautrec's power now. "What could you hide, so valuable, which even might be pillaged by other countries, perhaps?" _Oh. He is perceptive, I'll give him that. The clever, vile piece of filth!_ "Hmm…. So it's in the kitchen, eh? Thank you then, laddie!" he'd returned one last time. "And I promise you… there'll be a reward for this information of yours!" he finished, walking out of the vicinity. For a few moments he'd stood stock still, unable to comprehend or believe what had just happened. Then he decided to head to his room, stone-face, and lie in his bunk to weep like the pathetic fool he was on his failure. _Outwitted like a bloody mouse in the clutch of a cat._

It all ended in the same day, surprisingly. Lautrec, rashly eager and impatient that time, was caught in his attempt to break into the sanctum but had heartily pointed evidence against him. _No matter, there wouldn't be any other reason, and we're clearly in the worst messes of my life,_ he thought as he walked into the superior's room holding the summons sent to him earlier, the afternoon sun lighting the dreaded halls. It simply had four terrible words on it – "You failed. See us." Suddenly, as he walked in, a dart struck his right shoulder and then he was losing consciousness.

The next thing he knew, he was at his room, and it was sunrise… and his tongue was the mere stub you'd see it now. He bore the loss in silence, grieved at failing his responsibility, ashamed he wasn't able to defend himself against the vile beast… but every cloud had its' silver lining, as they said. He was happy that at least the superiors hadn't decided to kill him, and he prayed to Lord Gwyn for a worse punishment to fall upon Lautrec.

Suddenly, one of the superiors walked into his room, holding a pen and a sheet of parchment. "We've heard Lautrec's side of the story, and thine view might be far different. After all, thou would'stve broken into the sanctum yourself, lad. Thou hast proven to have amounts of great initiative. Fret not, thou still hast our favour after the vile brute was captured. But we are still distressed about thine failure." He held out the feather and a parchment. "Indeed there was punishment lad, but we decided to have you feel none of the infernal pain. Write down thine side of the tragedy here."

So in the end, Lord Gwyn proven to be someone who listened to prayers. His side of the story came out as right and true. He was not denied his reward, and Lautrec was sent to Astora, in exile. The squire had managed to retain his honour… but he lived the last years of his Human life in shame at his failure. Many of his cohorts had been sympathetic in spirit, and decided to keep the thing as one of their camp's deepest secrets. Then the curse of the undead hit, and he'd been one of the lucky few undead who had survived the first part of their pilgrimage and ended up in Lordran. There he'd met Solaire, aided him in linking the Fire… and now here he was, gallivanting while the world was peaceful and while maidens in blue offered to heal his tongue.

"And thus is my history, or at least part of it, knightess. The rest is a different story for a different day. What can you make of it?"

 _Quite interesting and grievous at the same time. You've revenged yourself upon Lautrec and you're your honor intact – admirable! And about your secret… indeed it is a vital secret… but Carim lies desolate now, inhabited by Hollows and monstrosities, as do all the other lands. This is a secret which has somewhat lost its' value. That you can tell her._

"I see. Oh, wait… what is she - my mouth is tingling-" he exclaimed as the lady in blue pointed her catalyst at him and released a starburst of energy. "I - feel - whole!"

* * *

"Oh… I see… that looks horrible, to say the least." To be honest, she was quite revolted at the sight. Such torture was prohibited in a sane world, or at least in a world with a twisted sense of morality. "But I can promise you none more of this kind of denigration. Be still, and be free from your muteness…" She held up her wand, and channelled a warm burst of stardust at the mouth. She then began to fuse the stardust with the tiny stub of tongue, letting a new one coalesce as the dust replicated the tongue cells.

She saw the undead test his new tongue out experimentally, worming it around his mouth. _Good grief, I bet he's happy!_ She chuckled, slightly amused, as the knight hurried outside making disgusted noises. She followed him... and found herself looking at one of the most magnificent cities in the world, one that had transcended the history of this world itself, so to speak. The light from the setting sun cast a warm glow over intricately designed spires, towers and minarets, adding to the effect. _Oh, the architecture's something i haven't seen before..._

After a few moments of gazing in sheer wonder, she was brought back to reality by the sound of retching. O _h. Before I forget..._ she thought sheepishly, looking first at the Comet Observatory. She pointed her wand at the structure, sending a faint spiral of stardust and energy at it. The Observatory then slowly pulled away from the building they were on, and floated in midair, with the Terrace - now just a mass of scattered dirt and plants - touching the roof as some sort of gangway. She looked at the wreckage appraisingly. _Looks like I'll have to do some gardening for a while now._ Oliver then leapt out of the Library and onto her head, chirping happily.

She found him doubled over a railing, retching. _Must've been the taste of his mouth. He must miss how terrible it tasted, haha!_ She smiled at him again, and spoke first.

"Feels good to have a tongue back, right?"

"Indeed it is, lady. It's been a long time since I've talked like this!" the undead replied after a few moments, drinking Estus to alleviate the terrible taste coming from his mouth. Strangely, Estus seemed to taste like a strange mixture of honey and hot tea all at once - sweet, with an edge of flavor.

"What actually happened to your tongue? It seemed as if it was quite a terrible punishment for a terrible crime!" She shuddered at the thought. _What if I'm befriending a vile criminal? What could we do against a criminal with godslaying power?_

"Well, let's say I got framed for something I didn't do." He'd decided to give her the truth... but not all of it. "But now my torment is over... thanks to you, princess from the sky! You have my deepest gratitude! Oh, how impolite of me, not introducing myself! But my name… yes, I've forgotten it, sorry. My past memories have been lost to the curse, damn. But as you can see, I'm a knight. Thus you may refer to me as Sir." He'd slipped his helmet's visor back to original position, once again shielding his face..

She sighed in relief. _Not that bloodthirsty after all. And quite... normal and plain, too!_ From his jolly, esctatic tone, Rosalina now judged she'd made a friend here. _And now my job becomes easier! Oh, if only I'd known… But-_ "Curse? What curse?" she asked, curiosity piqued. "And by the way, I'm no princess, I'm… not really royalty. The crown? Its kind've just for show. I received it way back when I was young, when I didn't have status. So now I just wear the crown because I'm kind of obliged to by my peers. But you may call me a lady, sir! Although I prefer my name above all."

"I see… forgive me, lady Rosalina. So, the curse of the undead." He replied succinctly. "Recently, humans have randomly been branded with the Darksign, marking them as undead. When they die, they revive at special Bonfires fuelled by Humanity, but if they lose sanity they become Hollows, a shell of their former selves hostile to anyone and everyone."

"So no wonder you're labelled undead… that's… I don't know, rude?" she returned. "To me, I'd see your kind as… unique, and a race which needs the very best of care."

"I see. Indeed, it's quite a shame this world has been fraught with fear at our existence. But you seem to be a wonderful, yet rare case." He replied, quite pleased he was able to bring a smile to her placid lips. "So, one of its' unsavoury side-effects is the loss of memory upon each death you undergo – oof!" he grunted as a happy Oliver bounded into his chestplate. "Thank you stranger! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he squealed as cuddled into the knight's armor, who returned the hug with amusement and a slight hint of affection. "It's good you and mama are now friends! I'm going to be your friend too, now! Yaaay!"

The undead, of course could only hear it chirp and squeal, so Rosalina decided to explain things a bit. "It likes you a lot, sir! Don't mind it if it suddenly leaps into you and hugs you. That's what a Luma like him always does. Adorable, don't you think?"

"Indeed… but what are Lumas?" the undead asked.

"Lumas are what Oliver is, his, um, species, so to speak. They're basically starchildren who grow up to become different celestial bodies in their maturity. You can recall the brown one – it turned into a Grand Star, a source of great power which I use as fuel. But," her face fell and she sighed deeply, "as I came here they all died thanks to that blue murderer."

The knight, seeing Rosalina's face a mask of sorrow, acted on instinct and laid a heavy gauntlet on her shoulder. Surprisingly, she bore the weight well. Her breathing went funny for a moment, and a single tear rolled down her placid face. Then she drew a deep breath and gently touched his wrist,putting on a strained smile. "I've lost a lot, sir, but don't worry about me. I can survive this ordeal. I do appreciate the kindness you've shown to me so far – you seem to be exceptionally hospitable, no?"

"Indeed, lady! But not really with the Hollows; they're keen on hospitality. They're eager to greet you with a sword to the face! But anyways, I've a few matters to attend to down below."

"I'll try my best to help you with that, then, sir." She beamed at him, and looked away quickly, embarrassed at her next choice of words. "Although I need you for something as well." Of all the things she hated, being an expense to other people was the one. Especially to her friends. And she didn't want to be one to her newest friend.

"If it won't be experiments, oh, I'll agree." The undead had enough of all the strange things alchemists and sorcerers did to his body in the name of progress – only for their methods to hurt him most of the time. "Anyways, what is it you'll need?"

"Um, I need to look for more of these things." She rifled her hammerspace, and it took a few moments before she pulled out a Power Star, out of only three left. They'd need at least two more for the return trip to Smashville. "This world seems to be quite deadly at a glance. Could you kindly accompany me as I go about looking for these?"

"Agreed, lady… Rosalina, was it? Forgive me if I can't remember that easily…"

"Indeed it is my name – wait, where are you going?" she said, seeing as he began heading towards a passage she hadn't noticed. "Don't-don't leave us yet, sir! I've a few things to clear up with you!"

"Wait a moment, ok?" the knight exclaimed, turning around for a while. "Before I start helping you out, I have a few loose ends to tie up, lady. Don't worry, I can guarantee I'll come back for you. Just stay in that home of yours for a while, and don't wander around so I can find you easily. Understood?"

"Understood sir. Take care!"

As she watched him leave, Oliver leapt up to her and she expertly caught him in an embrace. He shouted out a loud "Goodbye, stranger!", which the stranger in question heard as a loud, prolonged chirp. He turned and waved, then continued walking to the inside of Anor Londo."Thanks a lot, Oliver! You made him friendly, didn't you?" she said.

"He helped me mama, so I did!" he returned quite proudly.

"You wanna know something, Oliver? That was the guy we're looking for! The guy Master Hand wants us to bring to him! Oliver, I'm so proud of you!"

"Thank you mama! Thank you! An you're welcome! I knew I was right when I wanted to stay with you!" shrilled happy little Oliver.

"You're welcome, Oliver. That knight… he's going to be our friend from now on, ok? You all right with that?"

"OK, mama!"

Rosalina sighed in relief, and began to walk back to the Observatory. Taking the anomaly wasn't so hard. Hey, she'd even gained a new friend - and a friend to her child, too! - in the process! But next was of course, the hard part.

Handling the anomaly.

But she smiled and thought to herself. _I've done a lot despite all these things happening to me. I can do this. For the cosmos. For Master Hand. And of course… for our new friend. I will remain empowered._

She smiled, taking in the magnificent sunset, and the uncertain, yet always exciting future which awaited her.

* * *

And that's about it for now, ladies and gentlemen! I hope I wrote well! Stay tuned, and as always, rate and review!

\\[T]/


	6. Not-So-Jolly Co-operation

And the next chapter! Forgive the wait and the lacklustre content, guys, I wrote this through a lot of things; e.g., chores, the terror of card distribution, and having to face my grades. I do admit, I'm terrible at Math. Then as I was halfway through, a power outage happened, erasing nearly all my work. Thankfully, I managed not to ragequit and survive (and finish writing this!) with the grace of God.

Thanks for stopping by and taking time to read this, even without reviewing or following it. All those views have been great help and support in my times of need – and evidence to me that in this world, someone cares, sooner or later.

And as per usual publication standards…

DISCLAIMER! I don't own Dark Souls, Smash 4 or Super Mario Galaxy or their characters; that goes to From Software, Nintendo and their affiliated companies. Peace!

* * *

CHAPTER THE SIXTH

The undead had finally reached Knightess's old bonfire, panting. All that running past those Silver Knights was bloody tiring. He sighed, quite in a mood to laugh. He'd expected the bonfire to be extinguished and found it so, much to its' Firekeeper's displeasure. That did little to dampen their spirits, though… or the euphoric mood, for that matter.

 _You did it, sir! You've actually managed to befriend someone who's a decent person and someone you adore, as well! I'm proud of you… guess my advice worked, huh?_

The undead could feel a warm fuzzy burst of joy sprout into his bosom, but all through the haze he could feel something… insidious. As if… as if she had been hurt, in a way that made her angrier and angrier each passing second. _But why?_ He mused quietly, making sure the Knightess couldn't hear. Then a thought struck him. _Guess I'm going to have to confront her on this later. For now, we have something to do._

"Hey, it's also thanks to your help, dear Knightess! But for now, I'm going to have to bring your Bonfire upstairs, for a moment – going to try something with it, if you don't mind." _I don't mind, go ahead! But how are you-_

He pulled out the Zweihander and started bashing the floor around the Bonfire. When it didn't work, he pulled out the Dragon Tooth and repeated the process until he'd formed a large chunk – and it came off, along with the still-intact bonfire. "There we go!" he said, satisfied, as he pried the floor loose and lifting the Bonfire with all his might. In the end he'd managed to make it to the stairwell before he'd finally dropped the gigantic slab of tiles and Titanite with a Bonfire – and all its accoutrements, like the Bottomless Box. He sat on the first step, quite very exhausted. "Damn, the thing's heavy."

Then, he'd decided, it was time for Knightess to face the music.

"Which brings me to a question I haven't dared ask you yet… not with her watching me like a hawk. It might cause you some consternation."

 _Ok, say it! She's not here. This here is our time. We can talk about things not meant for the cosmos to listen. So, what is it?_

"Knightess. Why are you so envious?"

Right then and there, the mood turned upside down for both of them. The sword was silenced for a few moments, shocked. _How could he have found out so-_

"Don't worry, knightess, I'm not cross or anything. Being envious is just… plain wrong, in my opinion. But it's natural to covet what is owned by another…" The undead was now quite scared he'd lose the trust of his sword all by pointing out her feelings quite brazenly – and losing her favour in the process. "Just tell me why."

After an uncomfortably long silence, the sword finally spoke. _Err… dear me, you noticed? Ugh, I guess you felt it, eh? Well… I'll be frank here. I'm quite envious since you've fallen in love with someone else… and you're still part of my affections, yeah. But of course you'd react to that, which I did not like, so I decided to play along for a while. I can't help but desire for you to be mine alone – and now there's a strange, pretty lady in blue named Rosalina who's totally captivated you and has befriended you as well. Sooner or later you'll be… hers._ She sighed deeply, and then a wave of pure _negative_ raced through the knight's body – anger, hate, sadness, melancholy, and pain.

He was taken aback. She'd managed to hide all this from him, in some way or another. That was astonishing! "So… this is how much I affect you… well, dear knightess, I'm sorry about that, but-"

 _And now I'm just a bloody sword - a misshapen, slender lump of steel! All thanks to you! Now that means I can't even just… properly love you anymore… not in this form… and I can only sit, immobile, as somebody takes you away from me! All thanks to you!_

"But does that mean you _can't_ love anymore? Knightess, love isn't all about knights in shining armour sweeping you off your feet! It can be some other sort of connection, like friendship, eh?" The knight retorted, now irritated at her. She'd been using the "I'm a Sword? No! Why?!" line for… what? The second time in hour now? And now she was stressed out about not being able to get him! Damn, it was irritating! And now… _now she was blaming him!_

 _What ticks me off now is you're in love at first_ sight _! All because she's pretty! And I know I'm right! Even with my kind of luck…_

"Knightess, come on! It's not just the façade she puts on! It's what she can do for me as well, and her personality, at that! And count yourself lucky – lucky you're still alive, in a way! And lucky enough to end up with me, if that's something you'd love! Please, don't be so… so single-minded! Look at the bright side for once, you dolt!"

That exchange took the stuffing out of her. A sudden cold shock coursed through the undead – the growing, murderous malice spreading… then suddenly, all of it was replaced by a weak, weak warmth – the warmth of her shattered soul. He then heard a sniffle… a sob… and suddenly his mind was drowned out in weeping. He felt all the heat go out of him as well… and realized he'd done worse. He immediately felt remorse for the poor lady, and tried his level best to placate her, saying, "Oh, dear, here we go… Knightess, I'm sorry… Guess I shouldn't have… said things… the way I said them… come on, I didn't mean to-" But the knightess merely continued wailing. "Um, knightess? Can we still be-"

In all their precious time spent, they failed to hear the lumbering, crashing steps of the Sentinels, now doing their rounds.

Suddenly a jolt of shock coursed from the sword. _Look out,_ she managed to scream through the sobs. _It's after you!_

The undead wheeled around, startled as well, and managed only a pathetic attempt to block the Sentinel's gigantic Halberd with his bare gauntlet. For second, everything seemed still… then the thick, heavy blade sheared through his left hand and sank halfway into his chest. The undead yowled in pain and managed to roll away, blood gushing from the wounds like warm springs. Weakly, he stood up, and baited the Sentinel into attacking. The enemy took one mighty swing… and missed, as the undead had managed a backstep. The effort was almost too much for him, though, and he crashed to the ground, managing to pull out the almighty Estus Flask. He took one deep swig, and then got up and rolled away as the Estus healed his hand, narrowly missing another crushing blow from the Giant's Halberd.

He quickly hid behind a pillar and drew Knightess, whose sobs were diminishing as of late. He let her let it out for a while, all the while watchful for the Sentinel's approach. Just to be sure, he put on the Fog ring and the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring. Satisfied of their safety, he continued trying to calm his poor blade, which was now silent. "Knightess? You all right now? Sorry about those things I said… you were just… you blamed me for your plight. Man, I can be so insensitive, eh? Forgive me…"

 _It's all right, friend. Save the talk for later,_ the knightess replied softly, yet sternly, a _nd next time draw your shield, idiot!_

"Ok, ok… but for now, it will have to be first blood for you!" he replied with a killer smile, drawing the sword and his Grass Crest Shield. "Shall we?"

 _We shall, sir._ The knightess replied somewhat begrudgingly as the knight ran full throttle towards the Sentinel. It didn't notice thanks to the rings he put on, and after a full five minutes of slicing and dicing, the Sentinel was dead, it's souls flowing into the knight's bosom. The undead stood, panting, as he collected his severed hand and gauntlet, and fixed the latter - along with the Estoc - with his Repair Powder.

 _Guess that's it, eh? My first blood indeed. Life as a sword is... different, ok, sir knight? There are a lot of things I can't control. Try to understand me, and you'll be in an easy state, ok? Hey, I'm like the only living sword you've ever come across, right?_

"I see... I'll try my damnedest, then, Knightess. But for now, we'll have to put this thing back on fire..." he said aloud, hefting the thing's weight again. It was staggeringly heavier than even the Dragon Tooth, but he'd placed Havel's Ring on his finger, making stuff easier.

 _You - you can?!_ the knightess replied, awestruck.

"I've just got one of those grand ideas of mine..." replied the knight, straining on the stairs, "...but it'll need yours and Lady Rosalina's cooperation. If you can put aside your envy, that is. And I beg of you, please do."

 _I see._ replied the knightess. The undead was particularly wary of another outburst even by just mentioning Lady Rosalina... but instead he felt a surge of happiness course into his chest. _I'll try to put up with her, then... if it works. Make sure it does. And next time, remember that Sentinels are hardly hurt by me, ok?!_

"Ehehehehe, sorry, I forgot. I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Meanwhile, back upstairs, Rosalina was having a bit of a fit. The Observatory was in a very sorry state after the day's events. Most of the buildings were in pieces, and the Observatory now had run out of auxiliary fuel (Power Stars). They could make the trip, yes… but she needed extra speed getting back to Smash Mansion. Master Hand and her friends would be worried sick at this time. And she had her worries too… like that huge blue idiot coming back, if there was a chance. The happy mood she was in began to fade as she thought of him smashing everything again, mercilessly beating, maiming, slaughtering them again, again, and _again -_

A sudden smack into her side brought her back into reality. "Mama, are you ok? Mama, answer me!"

She scooped up Oliver into her hands and managed a smile. "Of course, Oliver! Well, can I ask you to do something for me?"

"What is it, mama?" The little blue Luma beamed, quite full of energy.

"Could you please stay near the Beacon and watch if Stranger's going to come back?" She had to admit, that nickname of Oliver's was quite amusing.

"Yes, Mama! Anything for Mama!" returned Oliver, who then bounded away to his post.

Then she turned her attention to the Observatory. She braced herself for a long, long span of work, picked up her wand and began piecing everything back together. Of course she could fix it all… but as she placed the last bricks and chips of plaster of the Beacon's minaret back where they belonged, she started to feel the tell-tale strains wash over her body like a phantom. _Ugh, here we go… but at least we've got the outside of the place good as new. Now, to the inside…_ she thought, semi-nonchalantly, as she headed into the Engine Room first. That was quite a mess. A few fuel conduits leaked, spilling their contents noisily. But she mended all these absentmindedly and went straight to the Gearmo, which was now lying in a corner. As far as she could deduce, the poor thing had been thrown against a wall by an Off Wave, deactivating it and shattering some of its parts. _Shoot, this thing's complicated!_ She mused to herself as she began to toil over the poor thing's arm.

Five minutes later, she was stuck on mending the tiny little parts of the robot's head when Oliver bounded inside, quite worried. "M-Mama! There you are! I-I was so scared!" he shrilled, leaping onto Mama's back and nearly toppling her.

"Oh, why? Is something out there trying to hurt you?" she fearfully asked after she'd regained balance, and hugged Oliver. _Oh dear… if the blue Neanderthal heals very quickly and attacks again, we are doomed without the knight._

"No, mama! But it's _huge!_ And it's got something sharp in its hand! And it's _walking towards here!"_ replied a frightened Oliver.

"Oh, I see. I'll handle it, Oliver, and don't worry!" she replied, floating outside the Engine Room and spotting the giant golden armour-clad menace now bearing its way towards the Beacon. "Because right now, I won't have any more antics like this!" she screamed, quickly and effortlessly picking up the Sentinel in a fit of anger. She then proceeded to loose several blasts of cosmic hurt at the foe, and in a few seconds he was dead as a door-nail. Yes, she was civilized, and would have preferred to talk it over, but a scared remaining child and a vulnerable Beacon were reasons not to take the risk of this time and just downright end the threat's life. And lastly, she had enough of people attacking her and gaining the upper hand. She didn't want to be labelled weak, like poor Peach.

She stood for a few moments, panting, letting the anger flow out of her… not noticing the poor Luma, who'd never seen his mother act like that in ages. She then firmly strode back into the Engine Room and continued fixing the Gearmo, making sure not a single bit of stardust landed on the wrong place. Otherwise, it was all over for the poor robot. Oliver, after a few seconds of shell-shocked staring, floated slowly towards Mama and said his thanks somewhat reluctantly. Rosalina sighed and, after finally fixing the Gearmo and giving it a new lease on life, turned towards the poor little Luma and gave it the deepest hug she could fathom. "Sorry about how I acted there, Oliver. I know you're scared of me right now. I just… I just can bear to lose you, Oliver. Not after I lost all the rest of them."

"So you still love me, Mama? I thought you said-you said violence wasn't good once…" replied a doubtful Oliver.

" _Indeed it isn't."_

The two heard the familiar spectral voice echo from the doorway, and looked to see the Cosmic Spirit floating towards them. Currently, she was radiating intense disapproval. _"That sentinel of this city merely was fascinated with your Beacon. You could have merely left it be."_

"But-but-but- mother, my child was quite frightened! He might have been killed! We can't really guarantee he's a friendly one!" stuttered a despondent Rosalina. Being chewed out by your mother was a feeling… new to her, and as uncomfortable as she thought it'd be.

" _Even then you acted irrationally. You let your anger and worry take over you, and you took a life of something neutral. But you acted with a noble purpose. For that I will spare you further shame. But for now, I will have to tell you two a few things. First, to your child."_ She continued, approaching the poor Luma. When it didn't let go of Rosalina, she stood up and, letting her mother touch him, said "Don't be frightened, Oliver. This is my mother, and your grandmother as well."

"G-grandmother?! But – but I thought you were – mama told me – "

" _I got better."_ The spectre replied vaguely. _"Well, that's what they all say. But I'm here to teach you a few things."_

"Ok, grandma!" replied Oliver, now starting to smile. Grandma seemed real warm and nice to him. He could see now how Mama had gotten her good qualities from… and her strictness, too. He smiled at the thought.

" _First, my child, you've remained loyal to your mother. You've stuck with her even through thick and thin, even when she nearly was killed and when the rest of your kind left her. I cannot describe how both of us are very proud of you right now. But I can sense you are starting to doubt your mother, most especially after what she has done just now. I know how it feels to see people you love doing something horrible."_

"But what can I do about it, Grandma? I don't want to become like Zachary! I don't want to leave my Mama! And yet some evil voice in my head tells me to… and sometimes I almost listen…"

" _Then try your best not to. And tell Mama about it too. She might know how to help you. Even if she's made mistakes. And above all, my child, please promise me one thing."_ The spirit cooed softly, Oliver leaning in eagerly. _"Please, never leave your mother behind. You are the last of your kind here – at least for now – and thus the most important. And take care of her."_

"I'm important? And – take care of her when she's the one supposed to do that? But how, Grandma?"

" _You are her child, after all, and the most loving and loyal one. And if you ever did leave, dear Luma… it will break your poor mother. She will be grieved beyond sanity, and the cosmos will lose a powerful protector. And so will you._

"Oh, I…" For once, Oliver was struck dumb with amazement. Him? A lowly Luma, not even a star yet? Important... to the cosmos, even? But the thought filled him with pride and resolve. "I promise!" he shrieked heartily, leaping into his grandmother's hands. Surprisingly, he could touch her, and she could hug back.

" _Very good, little Luma. As for you, my beautiful rosy child…"_ the spectre turned gently disengaging herself from Oliver and laying a hand on Rosalina, head hung in shame, _"worry not about any more calamity falling upon you. The great blue being Tabuu has been injured gravely… but not mortally, it seems. But for the time being, he will be licking his wounds. A good show you did, you, the knight and his cohort!"_

Rosalina sighed in relief. Knowing one more threat down was good… but the guilt of annihilating something was still there. But now… with mother around, all the negativity began to race away from her. "So, mother, what should I do now with the Undead? After bringing him home with me, that is…"

 _Well, of course, stay as his friend. He might want to partake in some fights as well. And above all, help him in anything he needs, and do not make him your enemy. From my observations, I seem to see the knight has the power to control souls and their power… and if you two work in tandem, you might be able to bring life back to beings. Which is why he is so dangerous. He has absorbed souls of this world's Gods, who went rampant._

This was a thought to shudder at. Rosalina had never been able to create sentient life, not in her wildest dreams. There was a strange final component she'd needed for that – one elusive to her – and that was the soul. But now, with a wielder of souls one of her friends… all the possibilities began to stream through her mind. _I could bring Mom back… I could bring the dead Lumas back…_ Then she shuddered as another thought hit her.

"Mother, would that not make death lose meaning? I mean… bringing people back…"

" _Oh, indeed it will. That will be the ultimate test of your maturity – to see if you can really get over the pain of death. Then again, the choice… is all yours, dear daughter."_ The spectre sighed, somewhat regrettably. _"Although to be honest, I do miss being in a body."_

"I see, mother… but it will also require his cooperation, will it not?" At her mother's nod, Rosalina's gaze softened. "I see."

" _All right, my daughter. Little Luma, come hither! I have something to let both of you know, and it is of vital importance."_ As the two drew nearer she took both of their hands and started.

" _Both of you will be faced with a great, terrible war for the cosmos. Because, as you can see, the echelons of Subspace rise once more… and yet another power is rising. This power I cannot discern yet, but it is made… of a terrible, eldritch, all-consuming Dark which stems from an abyss I have not searched yet. Neither will I, and nor should you."_ Seeing their questioning looks, the spectre decided to make things a bit softer for them. _"Because anything the Dark consumes, it converts… and I saw your five rebellious children rush headlong into one of its rifts in a Starshroom. Rescue, for now is futile."_

This left the two in a state of shock. "The Lumas – ""Zachary and the rest – ""Gone?!"

" _Indeed they are lost… but we must hope they are not consumed or converted yet."_ The spectre replied gravely. _"There's nothing else you can do but that… and search for Power Stars. As for me, I will have to be your – and the cosmos' - scout for the moment... but_ _I will always watch over you, my loved ones. Fret not, and be brave!_ _Take care, both of you…"_ she finished, wrapping them both in a warm embrace before vanishing.

After a few moment's silence, the staccato steps of something carrying a heavy load broke the serenity. "Oh, the knight's back, Oliver, let's go see him!"

They rushed outside to, only to see the knight fall over and drop a gigantic chunk of tile and concrete with a strange ashen sword sticking out on top right on one of the daisy patches on the Terrace.

* * *

" _Knightess, I'm screwed."_

 _Told you we should have rested back on the roof._

" _What do I do about this? She'll be really mad, for sure!"_

 _Your problem, mister trying-to-block-halberds-with-bare-fists. Guess you should listen next time…_

" _Ok, ok, you win this time."_

 _Try explaining things. It might just work. And it might work if you'd listen to me too-_

 _"Don't rub it in. Ok, here goes-"_

Such was the exchange of the poor, bumbling knight and the jeering, yet now quite pacified sword as he shakily got to his feet – and remained in a prostate position, muttering all the apologies for all he was worth. That did little to help, though, or so it seemed from the lady's and her child's stricken expressions as they rushed over to her flower patch.

"Forgive me – it was an accident – I tripped carrying that - I just wanted you to examine that thing – it's what we call a Bonfire, see, and it's – don't worry, it won't disappoint - "

But the lady paid no heed as she casually lifted the huge pile off the ground, and began to heal the daisies buried underneath. Then she put the Bonfire on the seemingly useless patch of metal. _Oh._ She then turned towards them, and he expected a full outburst from the lady. But she simply ran a sleeve across her sweaty brow and said, "Gracious, you could've asked for my aid! And you should not have taxed yourself like that! But what is it you want me to examine? Oh, the bonfire, as you call it? Let me see…"

" _Hmmm… she is the calm, collected type… but the lifting part I did not expect."_

 _Neither did I, anyway. She seems so powerful… so… godlike, even?_

After a few moment's appraisal, lady Rosalina turned towards the knight, and spoke. "It's a curious little thing… It seems it is linked to something living, and it's got a tiny bit of that link still persisting within it. But that is all. Have I helped?"

"Yes, indeed, lady Rosalina. It seems that that Bonfire is linked to my friend, the esteemed Darkmoon Knightess, who gave her life for you," he returned, pointing to the Firekeeper's poor mangled body "and whose soul persists within this blade. Hey, you might even become friends someday, too! Now might I have a request, lady Rosalina?"

"What is it, sir?" she replied, followed by a hearty squeal from the little starchild.

"If you can lend me some of the earth in your home, may I bury my friend there and place her bonfire above her remains?"

After a few moments of deliberation, lady Rosalina nodded. But as he started to leave, she suddenly sprang and caught his arm, holding him back. "No, sir, rest yourself, and let me carry the body here. I know how heavy that thing must be. It's ok, no harm on your honour whatsoever! I am in your debt, anyways, and repaying it bit by bit right now, if you get what I mean. As he nodded in stark comprehension, she enveloped herself in a starlike aura, and launched herself in a graceful leap at the roof, arriving there in seconds.

 _I see, so you like her not only because of beauty. It's the overall that counts, eh? Good to know._

" _I see. Again, sorry, knightess. I'm as brash as you are."_

 _It's ok. No problem sir. Sorry about being jealous, too. Sometimes, a woman just has to indulge…"_

Then Rosalina arrived again, telekinetically holding the Knightess' cadaver in front of her. She proceeded to uncover a patch of grass and clumps of earth, and neatly placed the body in. Then she placed the earth back, and then placed the Bonfire on top. It looked really neat… save for one glaringly obvious thing.

 _It's still doused._ The erstwhile Firekeeper was now despondent. _But what was that all for?!_

" _To light it back on… although burying your body was… well, tradition. Has nothing to do with lighting it again. That's why I asked the lady to examine it for anything she could detect. But for now, we'll put it back on."_

 _But how? An why did you –_ the knightess started.

" _Look, she said the connection was still there, right? Now, what if I channel Humanity into you, and you'll-"_

 _Oh, now I get your plan!_ the knightess realized, joyfully deciding to keep any further questions hushed up. _Let's hope this harebrained scheme of yours does work._

The undead grinned under his helmet, and unsheathed his sword. "On the count of three, knightess," he said aloud, pointing the long, slender Estoc at the Bonfire.

"One." He willed a surge of dark, inky humanity at the sword.

 _Two. The knightess then quickly bent the souls to her will, guiding them to the tip of herself._

" _And three."_

A spurt of inky blackness jetted out from the tip of the rapier, spreading out like Dark Bead at as the Knightess bent her will, the Bonfire suddenly siphoned up all the Humanity… and then the telltale strands of Estus began to gleam from it, growing in volume until the Bonfire was restored to the vestiges of it's former glory.

Then a spreading radiance seeped into the atmosphere, soothing, calming and easing the three living people in it's vicinity. Rosalina felt totally rejuvenated, as did little Oliver, but the one who relished the experience the most was the knight – who never rested his head upon anything ever since he was branded by the Darksign. To him, the Bonfire, and it's warm glow… it was his sleep.

After the radiance had settled, Rosalina spoke first. "That… that was astounding, indeed. Sir. Indeed it fails to disappoint! You're true to your word –as a true knight should." The knight bowed in pride and said his thanks, and after that she continued.

"But for now, sir, tomorrow's another day full of work… and we'll have to eat and rest. Is that all right with you?"

"Of course it is, milady. But as of now, I'd rather keep watch. There might be more invaders, milady."

"Sure! Thanks for that too. I'll just cook up dinner, and I'll call you once I'm done, ok, sir?"

As Rosalina began heading to the Kitchen, Oliver in tow, the knight and the sword sighed in unison, satisfied they had kept things in a good order.. "Thank you so much, knightess, for putting your jealousy aside! So, what do you think? Have I done well enough for all of us?"

 _But of course, sir. And now the sun sets. Keep yourself vigilant, the Sentinels will make their last moving rounds now._

"Ok, knightess..." the knight returned, sheathing her and sitting down on a patch of grass beside the Bonfire. "Did I do well enough this time?"

The knightess gave him a lopsided burst of happiness and sarcasm, one unique to her so far. _Indeed you did. Keep it up.. and you might be able to captivate her._

Little did they know about the spectral eavesdropper behind them, who could peruse their thoughts and see what they were chatting about. As the undead and the Knightess chuckled over a joke he was telling, the Cosmic Spirit decided there was nothing more of interest, and began to float away.

 _"Quite an interesting turn of events,"_ said the Spirit to herself as she left, _"but I will be content to see this grow alone, without my intervention."_

* * *

And that's it for now, people! Stay tuned and as always, rate, review and follow! Peace out!

\\[T]/


	7. Moonlit Scenes

And the next chapter! Thanks for all the new follows, reviews and favorites, guys! And as I reach the milestone of a thousand views (and counting), I thank you all deeply! Couldn't have happened without your help, guys! And sorry about the long, long, long wait, and for johning in those past chapters. My bad… :l

But on another note, as per publication standards…

DISCLAIMER – I don't own Dark Souls, Smash Bros., or Super Mario Galaxy, and their characters. They belong to From Software and Nintendo, respectively.

* * *

CHAPTER THE SEVENTH

As the sun finally dipped over the horizon, and the world began to shroud itself in the veil of darkness, the knight sat on the grassy patch of ground next to the newly-lighted Bonfire, surveying it. "So far," he thought to the Knightess, "everything seems in place. The Bottomless Box, the Repairbox and the Smithboxes, they all work the same, yes. Do you hear me, Knightess?"

 _A good development, this is! ,_ replied the joyous knightess, _and now I get to do what I love again, even after death! My sincerest thanks to thee, friend! And now, once more, it is our time. We can now talk, as comrades do._

The knight smiled, somewhat relieved the good mood had returned. He'd learned to love he times when his sword wasn't boiling in anger and screaming at him, or green in envy and sulking. Anyways, as he got out a rag and began wiping the Estoc clean from the blood of the Sentinel, he'd thought of one tiny detail which had always made him curious about the Knightess... and all the people he'd met, anyways.

"Well, knightess, are your memories intact?"

 _They are. Well, most of them are, except for the time of birth – it's just a fuzzy mess of scenes, that. Why that question?_

"How does a family feel like?"

 _Ah, yes, a family. The first people you'd ever meet, the people who brought you up, and the people to provide for you._ The knightess recounted quite wistfully. _But whatever defined a family was too… short, for a knightess like me. I was taken up as a page when I was five years of age. But those years spent with my family… they weren't as sweet as you'd think._

 _I was born to a middle-class family in Carim. My mother was the ever-loving housewife, never went out of the house often. My father was a noble, and he served the great earl Arstor, the Impaler._ She snorted derisively. _Call him what you'd like, his rule was most prosperous, and as for that sobriquet… that he'd earned in battle._

The knight chuckled, somewhat pleased at this fact. "So we are both knights of Carim, ready to bring glory to our defamed nation, eh? Well, continue."

 _Indeed. Anyways, to continue, I had two siblings, both of which were elder than I. Brother Thomas was nineteen when I was born, and my sister Fina – of course, the love goddess! Always ready to have someone named after her._ She chuckled succinctly. _Anyways, she was still seven years of age when I came into life. We lived in a well-to-do house – none of your low-down huts, but not good enough to be a manor either. We had enough income yes, but it wasn't enough for our family to be luxurious. We were middle-class, after all._

"I see… and your name is?"

 _None of your business._ The sword retorted, and the knight could feel a smugness about her hilt. _It's going to be my secret, ok?_

"Fair deal," the knight returned, quite disappointed, "continue. Your life's really interesting."

 _As is yours, since it's shot full of holes. Anyways…_

 _My brother was a squire, but he came home to see us often. My sister – well, she just went around and do as she pleased, anyways, there weren't any schools yet at that time, and she was brought up to be a lady of the house, much like mother... My mother, of course, stayed at home, looked after us and pampered us, I dare say. My father… he didn't really come home often. He was usually busy with his work, mother said. Everything was all right for the first four years of my life. Mother fed me, weaned me. My sister, more than often, teased me. Brother would come home every once in a while, and we eagerly awaited his stories of his life at camp – a different world from what we knew. We took delight in his descriptions of the training, his friends, superiors, and all the cool stuff which came with knighthood. Father usually came home about… what, a month apart? Well, to make up for his absences, he brought us toys and other stuff we girls liked to play with. There was always enough in our family, and we hardly argued over anything except that last piece of meat in the stock pot._

 _Then it happened. The crisis which not only rent the world, but tore me away from my family. Although some parts are fuzzy, I'll try to tell you what I can._

 _Well, the day before that, it was my fifth birthday. We just celebrated by having one huge, sumptuous meal. Mother gave me a new set of clothes she had knitted. Fina – well, she gave me one huge hug, and a doll they had bought. Brother was on his last year of squirehood, he couldn't visit. Father had come home and brought along with him some good news for us all – the other nobles had recognized his service, and had come to give him a reward, which was to give him a higher pay. Our neighbors brought gifts – still clothes, although there was the occasional toy. That day… was the last delightful day I had with my family._

"Good grief. What happened next?"

 _Then the curse of the undead struck. My sister alone in my family was branded, and that hurt the most. She was taken away, you might know, to an Undead Asylum, to rot there while she hollowed._ She shuddered. _She couldn't stop crying as they tore her away from mother's arms. Neither could we, anyways._ The knightess stopped for a moment, and sighed sadly. _Our brother was sent to Astora, then Catarina – as an unhollowed knight he'd have to do some reconnaissance into the other lands. Since then I've never heard of him. From then on, father stayed in the palace working hard with the other nobles, never to see us again. Some servant would deliver his income and his overall state in there. Only I and mother remained in the house from then on, living on._ The knightess sighed deeply. _I miss them all, and now they're all dead._

"Oh, poor you… So you aren't undead, huh… And what does that have to do with getting you torn away from your family and stuff? Or what was left of it, anyway?"

 _Getting there._

"Oh, I see." The knight replied quite sheepishly. "Sorry, do continue."

 _Ok. Common courtesy is never to interrupt the speaker. But anyways, I'll break off for now. Your lady's coming, and she seems to want a word with you._ A burst of warmth coursed through the blade. _And about her… you two seem to be getting on amazingly well. Strange, indeed, for people who've just met each other… Anyways, you have my full support from now, sir Knight!_

"I'll see to it I won't lose your support, dear knightess."

 _Quit calling me dear though,_ she replied, chagrined. _It feels strange to be called that by someone still quite on the way to earn my full trust._

"Oh, sorry. Anyways, here she is…"

He turned and looked up to see Lady Rosalina clean, freshly scrubbed and in a new white dress... which was pretty immaculate. Emphasis on _pretty._ With her little starchild in tow.

* * *

A while back, Rosalina had been in another hissy fit as checked the Kitchen. So far, it was the most intact structure out of all, but what really worried her was the food supply. _Hmm… maybe the knight's diabetic… or he's plain picky… or maybe he won't eat Star Bits…_ She'd been inspecting the stores of food that they had in the Kitchen, and found out she actually still had a medium bag of flour and six eggs, tucked away neatly in the utensils holder, of all places. "I think I know who did that!" said Oliver, after spotting those things. "Rick did that a week ago, saying he wanted to keep those things for April's Fool's." She sighed, and said, "I sure miss that old troublemaker… but never mind that. Well, we're going to make nothing but bread for the entire week, Oliver. That fine by you?"

"Of course, Mama! But I do miss lasagna…" replied Oliver, with a twinge of nostalgia. "Sorry, but we can't make lasagna yet…" she replied with equal disappointment. "But we'll get that when we get back to the mansion. Don't fret, ok, Oliver?" "Ok!"

She quickly grabbed an apron, put it on, and began preparing utensils for making bread. _Ah, cooking… this thing I like. Relaxes, soothes, and brings out your stress,_ she thought. Then she looked at her child, who was watching her somewhat boredly. _Maybe I shouldn't keep all these benefits to myself._

In short order, she was sifting the dough and beating the eggs. Then from the newly-installed (but, sadly, near-empty) refrigerator she got some packaged sugar and yeast. The yeast she activated, and fed with the sugar. After five stolid minutes of waiting, Rosalina poured the yeast into the flour - then suddenly picked up her child and gave him the bowl and the whisk. "You stir!" she said, beaming at Oliver, who was now equal parts surprised and amazed. Recovering from his shock, he obeyed without a word, and quite enthusiastically too… yet much too excitedly, she feared.

At the end of it, spots of the floor had mounds of flour and drops of liquid splashed on them… but Mama merely beamed and continue teaching her lesson. "See here, Oliver, you're supposed to be quite slow in stirring. If you go all fast like Sonic… that's what happens. Although Sonic can do it just fine, which is strange… huh."

Oliver merely nodded, now focused at this task Mama had given him. After four minutes' worth of careful stirring, the mixture in the bowl was now a proper dough. "This fine, Mama?"

"Yes, Oliver, very good!" She beamed radiantly. "Now, let's knead the dough." She picked up the dough and placed it on a spot on the counter with flour all over, and began working it. After a minute of steady kneading, she let the little Luma take over. That he did so with gusto… but with his short, stubby limbs all he could do for now was punch away at the dough.

After six minutes of kneading, Rosalina gathered up the dough and placed it in a bowl, then covered it with a towel. "Ok, everything's set! Let's check the Beacon next." She said quite cheerily, walking out with Oliver in tow.

The Beacon in question was quite intact, save for the invisible containment case, and the ball of energy within. She sighed, and humming quite soothingly, she took the Grand Star which had formed from poor Polari, and let the ball of fire consume it, returning it into its normal turquoise hue. She thought of all the sacrifices made by all the Lumas… amounting all this. Finally, after fixing the Beacon's walls, she then decided it was time for a bit of rest.

She looked over at her child as he followed her around happily while they made their way to the Bedroom, noticing how much he'd grown in the past few days. He'd become so much more… able to control matters of great importance. In a single day, anomalies had risen, they'd been attacked, the rest of the Lumas had deserted, and now they were stranded… but still, they had persevered. She could see his level-headedness all throughout this entire ordeal… and realized with a jolt how much she needed to be connected to the Lumas. _Not only do they need me… they also keep me alive and sane. And for a time I didn't know... and now only one remains._ She sighed, morose. _And five more are stuck in an abyss, stubborn and wanting to be independent. Ah well. We'll get to them, sooner or later…_

Quickly noticing his mother's change of mood, Oliver floated up to her shoulder. "What's wrong, Mama?"

"Nothing, Oliver. I was just thinking about you, the others, all the Lumas… especially Zachary's band in that abyss." Her voice trailed off. "What if-"

"D'aww, that's nothing to be sad about, Mama! And about those guys… it's their punishment, right? They left us! They don't care at all! They deserve it, Mama, they do! It's our revenge!" he retorted with an edge to his voice.

She put on a lopsided smile. Maybe he did have a few more points to develop... but he was still a child, after all. "No, Oliver, that's a bad kind of thinking, saying they deserve it. I mean, they do, but not all of it, ok?" She bent down and scooped him up in a hug, making him squeal happily. "Now stay here, outside… I'm going to change my clothes, ok? _And don't dare look._ " She said, putting much emphasis on the last statement.

"Yes, Mama!" replied Oliver, his mood unfazed. Mama could be this… modest when it came to changing clothes, but he really didn't mind. It wasn't really his business to care about his mother's clothing, so long as she remained the prettiest mother she could ever be.

She then stepped inside, drew up the pre-placed curtain of privacy near the entryway, and began to strip down to her underclothes quite gingerly. She examined herself with disdain for all the cuts, the blood, the dirt and the grime which lay over her skin in a layer. _Ugh. Never have I felt so filthy in my life_.

She then began gently swabbing her dirty, bloody face with wet wipes, humming as she began cleaning all the spots caked with blood and dirt. A few minute scratches stung (no thanks to the antiseptic) but she bore the pain well, and let loose a burst of stardust, healing her. _Quite a scary thought, the loss of power making me vulnerable._

Afterwards she quickly cleaned up her arm, which was all grimy from wiping her nosebleeds, wounds and sweat with it. Then she began checking her body for any bruises, wounds and things which might make her quite uncomfortable with their presence, wiping it all the way. _Ahh, refreshing… but I'll just take a bath tomorrow instead of tonight… I feel knackered._

With all that done, she finally picked a suitable dress – the white one she usually wore on special occasions, like every time good ol' Peach threw a party in Smash Mansion. She put it on, admiring the thing's softness and good smell. This one had just recently came back from the washroom. _Mhmm, Captain Falcon was stuck on cleaner duty before I left._ She giggled at the thought. _I have a feeling the washroom's not going to be as intact as it was after his shift._

Now, with herself clean and tidy, and with clean clothes to boot, she pulled the curtain back and stepped out of the dome to an approving child. "How do I look, Oliver?"

"You look better than you did!" he squealed. "With all the blood on you, that is…"

"Thank you!" She beamed and took Oliver's stubby hand. "Now, let's see sir Stranger and see if he wants to eat with us. Ok, let's go, Oliver!"

They'd floated to his strange bonfire and saw him squatting quite uncomfortably near it's burning cinders… but she did notice him feeling all comfy and not burning up, so she decided not to point that out. Just then he turned around and regarded her from under his armor for a long time. After quite an awkward silence, she stooped down to his level, peering into the slits on his helmet. She was curious as to how he looked under that armor. _Hmm… might he be… handsome, perhaps? Or ugly? The people at the mansion might not like him when he takes his helmet off… but never mind that, for now. Let's do what we've came to do._ "Good evening, sir Stranger! And how are you faring?"

He cleared his throat and replied, somewhat uncomfortably. "G-good evening a-as well, l-lady Rosalina! And I-I-uh, well, let's just say I'm quite well, and relaxed, and t-totally sane. Yes, I'm sane and I talk to my sword. Ironic, no? M-Maybe I won't strike you as a lunatic or a H-H-Hollow, but still, what I do is fit for an eccentric– "

Rosalina beamed, glad she could relate to the knight, in a way. "It's fine, so long as the sword talks back to you. I know that feeling. Only I can understand my children so far, and that's led to some… complications. Just like yours. So, no need to feel uncomfortable around me on that, ok? Because I'm as strange as you are!" As she peered into the knight's helmet, she beheld a pair of gray eyes which barely contained the volatile, conflicting emotions within them. The rest of his face was hidden by his helmet… but his eyes were the windows to his soul, as they said. But all she could see was a dark soul plagued with years of strife, regret and death. _Hmm… one very strange anomaly this is. But I can manage. I'll do what I can to ease his pain. But for now, let's do what we came to do…_ "So, would you like to eat with us, sir Stranger?"

"Uhh… it's quite hard to explain, b-but I don't go hungry nowadays. Ever since I went undead, my body never r-really feels that hungry unless I'm dying, which is when I take a swig of my Estus Flask here. And that's it. But… I do miss the luxury and the good tastes of fine dining, and eating in general." His nervousness was evident now… but he was lucky he was wearing enough armor to mask it.

"I see… Forgive me, but I've no ingredients for fine dining. All I can make for now if a loaf of bread. If it's fine with you…" she said, now quite embarrassed at her menu. The knight saw the blush in her exposed cheek, and quickly excused himself. "A loaf of bread… well, that might only be enough for you and your child, milady… I'll just refuse for now, but thanks for the offer."

"Well… I'll see what I can do about next time, sir!" Then another thought struck her. "And what about sleep, sir? Do you still sleep?"

"Uh, yes, milady, but don't worry about my accommodations. I sleep next to this bonfire. I assume I am to accompany you?"

"Hm… how did you know?" she asked, a bit startled.

"Well, there were those stars you mentioned."

"Ah, I see. Well, I'll give you a lot more things to do when we find the Power Stars, so we'll be staying with each other for quite a long while. Is that all right with you, sir?"

"Of course, milady." The knight replied, beaming under his armor.

"Good to know. Glad we talked, sir Stranger!" she repined, relieved. She stood up and was about to leave when the knight suddenly stopped her in her tracks.

"Uh, not to be rude, but why are you calling me sir Stranger, out of everything you can come up with? It's intriguing, yes, but it's getting… obnoxious, I might say."

This sudden question was found very amusing by Rosalina, and somewhat embarrassing on poor Oliver. Ultimately, she couldn't hold it in and started laughing so hard until the tears started rolling her cheeks. Oliver, meanwhile, just stood aside with a meek, yet somewhat annoyed look on his face, which melted into a sheepish grin, until he joined in laughing… or chirping, for that matter. The knight, surprised, sat about and looked at the scene bewilderedly. " _She's right, Knightess, she is strange too!"_ he thought somewhat frantically.

 _Ah, well. Guess we've found a match made in heaven between two eccentrics, hmm?_ the sword teased.

" _Am not eccentric, knightess!"_

 _You are! Don't prattle about you not being eccentric, Sir Talking-To-His-Sword!_

" _Guess you have a point there."_ The knight replied, now feeling quite sold.

After the laughing had died down to softer chuckles, and then silence, Rosalina finally managed to speak again. "Sorry, about that, sir, that's just what my child calls you. I guess I decided to follow suit."

"Ah. I see," He replied, chuckling heartily, "and tell the child of yours I'll think about it, ok? It might take a little getting used to…" he finished quite awkwardly. "But I'll manage. Good night, lady Rosa - oof!"

Oliver had struck again, bounding into the poor unsuspecting knight, this time actually toppling them both over into the Bonfire's flames, much to Rosalina's shock… but the tongues of fire didn't burn either of them, anyways. As the little Luma basked in the strange yellow tongues of flame, the knight slowly got up and dusted himself off. Rosalina drew near and held out her hand to the Bonfire. It came out unharmed.

"That's Estus, milady," said the knight from behind her. "It's the part of the First Flame which split up and linked each and every Bonfire in this world. Also, it provides health and warmth to us, and it's innate power allows us to grow in power as well."

"Ah, I see. Good to know it won't harm my child. Well, we'll be off for now, all right? See you tomorrow then, sir Stranger!" she finished, both of them chuckling succinctly. She then picked up Oliver, and waving, headed back to the Kitchen to continue baking their loaf of bread.

"Well, Oliver, no need to barrel into Stranger like that, ok?" she fussed, as she began shaping the bread. "If it had been a real bonfire, both of you might have been hurt."

"Ok, Mama… I'm sorry… But can I still hug him?" he returned.

"Of course, Oliver. Of course. Oh, I almost forgot…" she continued as she finished shaping the bread and set it on the counter to let it rise for a bit. She then bent down to the Luma's level, and patted him softly. "Sorry about laughing back there, ok? It was quite… funny, you know, nicknaming him Stranger… and adorable, too… I can't help but be happy too… which I usually express by laughing, ok?"

"Oh, that… it's ok, mama, it's ok. Just don't rub it in…" he replied, leaping into his mother's arms. "One question, Mama."

"What is it?"

"Mama, why can't you make food out of thin air? Like you did with Stranger's tongue?"

"Oh, that." Her face fell dramatically, making Oliver worried. "I tried that too, back before I found you. Only then… the results weren't so good. See here, food has a lot of complications, much like a tongue, or an object, but these complications… when you eat them, they might poison you, make you really sick, or drive you insane, or do something worse, and the list goes on and on and on. Unlike an object or a tongue or a daisy. They aren't meant to be consumed, that's why. And when I fed it to myself and your kin, the Lumas… all of us became terribly sick. Thankfully, no-one died. So nowadays, I just cook like everyone else." She sighed regretfully. "And those five Lumas who fled… well, all of them except little Scotty were included in that incident." Looks like she had another reason to add to the "Reasons as to Why the Remaining Lumas Rebelled" list.

"Oh… sorry I asked, mama…" he returned remorsefully, cuddling into his mother's thin, yet strong body. Rosalina, now quite stone-face, still managed to return the embrace eagerly. "Well, Mama, what can we do now?" her child asked, as they quietly pulled apart, ready to resume work.

"Well," she started, picking up the tray and placing it in the oven, "while we bake this bread, there's nothing to do." She pulled up a stool and and sat on it, gesturing for the little Luma to come sit with her. "And we can talk as well. Or you can sleep. Anything, as long as we don't go out of this place. We have to watch over the bread, ok?" she continued, setting her trusty oven timer to twenty minutes. She then sat on the stool, Oliver in her arms, and began the wait. Slowly, slowly, the tired little Luma's eyes began to close, and within minutes he was dozing off.

* * *

As the night grew darker, the moon shone down upon Anor Londo, casting it's eerie glow over the city of the gods and draping it in a veil of beauty unique to it. This was a pleasing sight to the knight and the sword, the former - once more - sitting peacefully beside his Bonfire, and the latter unsheathed, and cradled in the knight's arms. Now, as they were in their privacy once more (or so it seemed), they began talking again.

"Well, that encounter was dangerous, mesmerizing, and refreshing all the same. Don't you think so, knightess?"

 _Mhmm... but why dangerous?_ the sword asked.

"Well, it's just – well, she doesn't really trust me that much yet, as does her child… but she DOES trust me. Let's say every time I talk, I have a chance to make or break this trust, eh?"

 _Wow. You're plodding along relationships and friendships at a veritable rate._ The knightess replied approvingly. _And speaking of which, there's one tiny issue I forgot to mention._

"What is it, knightess?"

 _Eh… you're going to let my body and my bonfire be carried away by some lady?! I mean, yes, you'll stay with her, but when her business is done, she's obviously going to leave!_

The knight pondered on this for a few moments. "Not really, since there's a chance we'll be going with her."

 _How do you know for sure she'd take us with her?_ the knightess shot back.

"Well, since our belongings are now here, and she's made no complaint, then I can assume there's a big chance she might take us with her. Speaking of which… how'd you know she'd leave for sure?"

 _Good points… and I knew she was bound to leave since she's looking for fuel for her strange structure, which might also double as some sort of vehicle as well -_

"Well, it's already that bizarre but a vehicle as well… that I find hard to believe." He snorted derisively. "Call me skeptical, but I have standards, like any other man, ok? And to me, that thing does not look like it can go very far… if it could, anyways."

 _Well, how'd you think it got here, hmm?_ the sword retaliated.

"You have a point… but still, though." The knight replied begrudgingly. "I'm not going to believe unless I see it, eh?"

 _Ok then, I won't impose! Wait, where was I…? Oh yeah. I'll continue my story, now since we're free of disturbance._

"She's not a disturbance – "the knight started.

 _In a way, she can be. Anyone and anything can be a disturbance, provided they come up at the wrong time. So, let me have a few moments' worth of recollection, then we'll continue, ok?_

"Ok, knightess, ok." The knight felt a bit sheepish at this point. "Um, why are you so much better at life than – "

He immediately received an outburst. _Hush! Don't disturb me!_ And after a few moments more, he felt the familiar sarcasm course through the blade. T _old you everyone could be a nuisance at some point..._ the knightess reproached gently.

"Ok. Sorry about that. Point taken…" the knight replied with as much snide in his voice, then looked toward the long, slender blade… and was surprised to see a face staring back at him.

It was only part of a face per se (due to how thin an Estoc can be), but still, it was quite a sight to behold – a pair of hazel eyes on a fair, pert little face crowned with jet-black hair, neatly done up in a ponytail. She was in deep thought, making all the more pretty… and unable to notice him, as well.

After a long period of staring, the knight decided to break the silence. "Um, a few words, knightess?"

 _I said don't talk!_ And only then did she break her concentration to see the knight staring quite directly at her. _Wait, can you actually see me right now?_

"Uhh, yeah. And I don't see a Firekeeper Soul, I see a really pretty young lady."

This made the Knightess blush deeply. _Damn, sir. If only I'd be alive and well… we'd had made a fine pair, eh? If it weren't for that blue murderer…_ She sighed wistfully. _Oh, all the things we could do -_

"And all the times you'd prick me with that Estoc for invading someone else, ehehehehe!" They chuckled heartily at that thought for a minute, but as the mirth died down… a thought struck the knight, his expression turning to one of angry resolve. "Ok. I've an idea, knightess. We're going with Lady Rosalina not only due to her" - which made the Knightess giggle (and seeing how funny she looked, he followed suit) - "but because I'm going to avenge you. And use you to stab the blue murderer."

 _Ok. Brilliant idea!_ The Knightess smiled warmly at him, causing _him_ to blush in turn. Yes, she could be adorable at times. _Now we have a proper reason to tag along with your Lady Love, and I'll continue telling you the tale of my life. Now, I'll think some more… be quiet, all right?_

"All right."

* * *

Oliver awoke, startled, to the noisy alarm of the oven timer. He looked around blithely, blinking the sleep out of his little eyes. "Is it morning yet, mama?"

Rosalina smiled, amused. Looks like twenty minutes was quite long, for a Luma. "No, my child, it's still today, and now our bread's done. I've already cut it up. Would you like yours with chocolate, jam or butter?"

"I'll have the chocolate, mama!" the child squealed happily.

"As you wish, Oliver!" she replied, curtsying. She quickly got out the prized jar of Nutella, which was now half-full, and a spreader from the cupboard. In short order she'd fashioned themselves two sandwiches. Oliver dug into his heartily, while Rosalina ate more slowly, careful not to get any stains on her person. Then, as an afterthought, she pulled out some Star Bits, to serve as "dessert". If their meal was even proper, anyways.

After eating, the two quickly cleaned up, with only the bowl and the utensils to wash. These they left in the Fountain, now repaired. Then, as both of them were now quite tired after the day's tribulations, they decided to hit the sack. But there was one teeny problem.

"Mama… we usually have to sleep in the Library, right? Right after a bedtime story…" cooed Oliver. "But I don't wanna sleep alone… I'm scared…"

"Oh, I see… well, I'll let you sleep in the Bedroom." Seeing the child's expression of shock turning into one of pure delight, she continued. "That's what you get, my child, for remaining with me… so long as you're going to be a good child, ok? But the only problem with that is no bedtime story for you - "

"Yaaaay! Thank you mama! Thank you! Thank you so much! I love this day!" shrilled the joyous little Luma, interrupting her... and yet she merely smiled. Lumas could be overly enthusiastic at times, and she'd learned to bear with it. "Well, no bedtime story… that's ok by me! As long as you're with me!" The ensuing, near-earsplitting squeals arrested the attention of the Knight for a few moments, and he decided to wave, and scream "Good Night!" at the duo. They returned the gesture happily.

Soon afterwards, they finally entered the Bedroom, tired, dirty (only slightly, in Rosalina's case) and in good spirits. Rosalina dimmed the lights, put little Oliver on a huge soft cushion on her bed (to his utmost happiness), and finally climbed in herself. They closed their eyes, quite famished, and drifted into the world of dreams.

Which wasn't quite a good place…

* * *

Finally, a few minutes after both of them had bid good night to the stellar lady, the knightess broke out of her trance. _Ok. Ok. Now I remember most of the daft bits, and I can tell little ol' you a bedtime story, much like Lady Rosalina probably is doing so as well to her child._

"Go ahead; I'll try not to interrupt unless I'm curious, ok?"

 _Deal. So, to continue…_

 _Now my family was split apart. Countries were in chaos, and in general fear of the curse of the Undead. But then the ray of hope started to shine in in Astora, and by then the Fate of the Undead prophecy was spread._

 _But hope? Nah. Not too much of it in Carim. Earl Arstor had been out of the country, leading his expedition to Lordran in hopes of ending the curse for our country. And sadly, he perished along with those brave soldiers at Ash Lake. They were beaten down by the Hydra, and the survivors were finished off by it's other inhabitants. The new leader was corrupt and incompetent, and it showed. Towns suffered, crime rose, and generally, Carim took the reputation that we can associate it with nowadays._

 _And as for us back home? Well, quite left alone, I say… until one certain covenant rose in power._

 _One sunny day three months after the last happy day in my life, I was out on errand from my mother to get some water from the village well, which was in the square, which in turn was quite far from my humble abode. To make matters worse, the bucket was half my size… but I'd been carrying stuff heavier than a bucket of water._ I can do this! _I thought, as I received the thing from mother._ How hard can it be?

 _Well, I did try. Emphasis on tried. When I had reached the well, I was panting in pure exhaustion. After one of the more grateful bystanders filled up the thing, with a superhuman effort I lifted it off the ground and made my way back home. Progress was very slow, but I managed to go a meter at a time without spilling half the bucket's contents. Pretty soon, my house was in sight and I hadn't collapsed yet._

 _Then, it happened. The village alarm went wild, the gates closed, the men at the ready. An invasion! But by who? As I stood stock still with fright in the middle of the road, Mom came out of the house, eyes wild with fear, and she told me to just forget about the bucket, take her hand and run to the house. Which I did. Then, as I took a glance at the village wall… I saw a warrior donning black, with a skull on his face stabbing a guard with a broad blade._

 _Mom quickly bolted down the doors and the windows, cloistered ourselves in the bedroom, and began to pray feverishly. That did nothing to calm me down as the trauma from seeing the enemy at work set in… although it faded away a bit later. The sounds of battle began ensuing outside, terrible sounds of swords clashing and men dying and fire crackling – fire! What if this house got caught in the blaze? I asked mother very worriedly. She told me that she had a plan, but that all we could do was pray for now._

 _The whole fight – which, for the larger part of it, was mostly heard - was all too quick, which frightened us all the more. Bandit attacks usually lasted for a scant fifteen minutes… and yet it was about just the sixth when the last man was felled, and a sudden, pervading silence ensued in the village. For moments, we dared not even breathe as a sudden, insidious presence came and a pervading Dark began to spread, greedily eating the light. We didn't know it then… but it was a Darkwraith invasion. Another attempt to spread the dark of the Abyss._

"Wait… you mean there are Darkwraiths out in the land of Carim as well?" an astounded knight asked.

 _You may not see them… but they exist everywhere, just hidden quite infallibly. It's unfair, really…_

"What so unfair? We have the Way of White and the Warriors of Sunlight out there – "

 _But there aren't any Blades of the Darkmoon. Hey, do those covenants you mentioned respond to Darkwraiths actively?_ She shot back.

"You have a point. Continue!"

 _Ok. So suddenly we hear the door being beaten down. We're in the innermost room, the master's bedroom. We don't have any servants in our house. Then, Mom suddenly starts barricading the room (which was a pretty normal response) and then motioned for me to come hide under the bed (which was not). I didn't know what it was for… but then she suddenly crawled into a hidden space behind the bed in the wall. I followed, and suddenly we were dropping into the deep earth._

 _For moments we lay still as the hidden elevator dropped on… then it slowed down, and stopped. Suddenly, we were in a hidden grotto full of weapons, water, and food like biscuits which lasted long, and torches which we promptly lit. Mother, now quite satisfied, explained that this was Father's secret "panic room" which he commissioned, in cases of emergency like this. She then bade me stay in a corner behind a chest and gave me a parrying dagger to defend myself with while she hid herself in a set of armor._

 _A very long eternity passed… the torches now flickering… then finally we thought it was safe to come back upstairs… but Mother wouldn't let me. She said there might still be enemies out there. She said she wanted me to live. She said she'd rather die first than let me be harmed. So she came up the lift alone… and she never came back. But that wasn't the last I'd see of her._ She sighed. _She didn't think about me having the same mindset as her. Which hurt me a lot._

"Question. How'd you survive deep underground?"

 _There were pipes supplying air from the surface, and there was enough food and water for two weeks, although the latter two were in poor quality. Anyways, to continue…_

 _I loitered around there, now hopeless, until finally, five days later, the elevator came down again… and brought with it a Darkwraith. I began to cry, letting him think I was far too scared to fight back, far too terrified to protest when he suddenly grabbed my puny little throat and used his vile Dark Hand._

 _Or so it seemed._

 _Suddenly, I struck out at his neck with the Parrying Dagger Mom gave me. I'd had enough with all the pain; I guessed that if I'd hurt him he'd take me down quicker. I was wrong… I'd actually managed to catch the guy on his windpipe, and as I stared at what I'd done he stumbled backwards, and into the lift. He fell onto the lift's switch, activating it with half of his body in, and half out. I immediately turned around, not willing to hear or see what happened, and went back to my corner in shock._ I just killed my enemy.

 _Finally, a long time later (a long time either meant twenty-five minutes or a whole day, tops) the elevator came back down… with another Darkwraith. This time, I was pretty much unseen in my corner… and as he reached the other end of the room, drawn by the treasure there, I was running to the elevator. When he had turned, I was heading upward._

 _When I had arrived at the bedroom, it was in shambles; most of the furniture had been hacked to pieces, and the clothes strewn about. But what was surprising was the Knight in the middle of the room. Basically, he wore Brass Armor, but since he had no ponytail his helmet was less adorned. He was clutching a Darkmoon talisman, and as I entered, he fell back in surprise._

 _But I paid no heed, and went straight to my mother, who was lying in the doorway, covered in blood. I came over, in shock, and began to clutch her cold, stiff body. Now, mother was dead, father was far away, and I had to fend for myself. But I didn't weep. Suddenly, and all-encompassing rage filled me. I then started screaming and flailing._ She shuddered. _I broke then and there. I couldn't take it. Then suddenly… the knight whacks me, and that's when things get fuzzy, all of a sudden… then I lost consciousness._

 _When I awoke, I was in Anor Londo. The knight was tending to me, and we were beside Master Gwyndolin's fog wall. He began to explain himself, saying he was a Blade of the Darkmoon, that he had saved me, that he was very sorry to not have saved the rest of the town. That was their fault, he said, because there were so few of them. Now, though, he had sensed a strange power coming from me, and asked me if I would become one of them._

 _Right then and there, I found my calling. The Darkwraiths had taken everything from me but my life and my dagger. Now I would pay them back. And –_ she finished with a flourish – _my story ends here._

"I see. Tough times, indeed, eh?" the knight replied, now feeling a bit sad for all the poor knightess had gone through… and quite proud to see her fine, after all that.

 _Indeed._ A burst of sadness jutted out from the blade, and the knightess' face fell. _But that's the past, anyways. I've already done a lot of them in. Hmm, what time is it?_

"Time for both of us to see a clock, knightess." The knight replied jokingly.

 _I thought it'd be something along the lines of "time to hit the sack"._ She retorted, dripping with sarcasm. _But anyways... time to sleep. It's getting on to deep night in here, ok?_

"Ok, mom!" he replied, voice also dripping with sarcasm.

 _Quit calling me that!_ was the parting shot, as the knight stretched out on the ground, and quickly began to doze off. The knightess also grew weary, but could not sleep, and thus decided to just shut her sword's eyes and think.

Then a bloodcurdling scream from the Bedroom jolted them wide awake.

* * *

And that's it for now! Stay tuned, and as always, rate and review!

\\[T]/


	8. Accidents Happen

AND THE NEXT CHAPTER! Thank you all for stopping by faithfully and reading this!

And sorry about the wait, life's given me the short end of the stick. For now, I'm starting to ignore my opponents completely, as they deserve such. Can't let them bring me down now. Also, from the wise words of Hank Morgan (from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)… "Well, whenever one of those people got it into his head, there was no getting it out again."

But, on another note, school's back, and with it, work… so updates might be sporadic. Forgive me for the inconvenience.

And as per publication standards…

DISCALAIMER: I do not own Smash Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, or Dark Souls, or their characters; this goes to Nintendo and FromSoftware, respectively.

* * *

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH

Oliver was wakened rudely from his sleep by a loud, startling sound for the second time in the night. Feeling the strange sense of déjà vu wash over him, he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, quite incensed… then his annoyance turned to worry as he saw Mama sitting up, panting laboriously and quite evidently afraid of something. In a trice, he'd leapt up into her chest and hugged her, squealing. "Mama, what's wrong? Mama, are you ok? Mamaaa!"

Oliver's alarm began to intensify as a thought struck him. This was what Grandma had told him to watch for – when his Mama might break, he'd have to help her in any way he could. But how? It seemed there was so little he could do… and it even seemed Mama was broken already. He shuddered, now quite sad and scared his Mama was losing her mind all because of a dream… with him unable to help. He began to wail quite loudly.

The pitiful keening managed to bring Mama back to her senses a little, although was a bit too shell-shocked to respond properly for the moment. "I-uh-Luma-Oliver? Uhh… s-something - so dark - Z-Zachary-" She seemed to be in an extreme loss of words. "L-Let me b-breathe for a m-m-moment…"

Even just these few stutterings – as they were a sign of coherence - calmed the frightened little Luma to an extent. "Mama? O-Ok… just please don't give in, Mama!" he shrilled, still weeping. He clutched his poor mother for dear life, not wanting to lose her. "Please hold on, Mama!"

Then a chilling, grating sound – metal against the ground – made the terrified Luma go delirious with the tears… but, at the same time, brought Rosalina to full alertness. Gasping fervently, she called her wand to her with a gesture of her hand, and drew frightened little Oliver closer to her protectively. She steeled herself, began breathing more slowly, and then clarity of mind resumed its' course within her mind. _I can't let his happen on my watch. My enemy is weaker. I will prevail._

The terrible scraping sounds drew nearer, and nearer still… but this time she was well prepared. She stood up and began to stride to the Bedroom's entryway, the flames blazing in her eyes once more. She then walked out, yelled resolutely and flung out her hand…

…and flung away the Undead, who had been of course jolted rudely from his rest, as we know. Unfortunately for him, he was sent flying onto the roof of Anor Londo and then a railing with a sickening CRUNCH! Rosalina watched in stark horror as his body slipped free from the railing… and onto some buildings below.

Oliver bounded out, still quite frightened, but for the most part curious. "Wh-What happened, Mama? Did you get him, mama? Who was it, Mama?"

Rosalina merely shuddered, harrowed by what she had done. _I just killed my friend and my job. In a blind panic. Ugh. Good job, Rosalina. What a way to go. WHAT A DAMNED WAY TO GO._ She sank to her knees and buried her head in her hands, the tears beginning to flow again. Oliver saw her predicament and decided to carefully snuggle into her arms.

Suddenly he saw Stranger's bonfire glow a bit brighter, and then Stranger himself came rising out of the ground near it. A wave of both amazement and need washed over him as he leapt out of his mother's arms and barreled into him (as usual) squealing loudly. "Stranger! Please help mama! Pleeaaase! I don't really know what's happened to her, but she's quite strange now!" he shrilled, gesturing wildly at his mother, now staring at them quite shocked down to her corns.

But Sir Stranger paid little heed to them as he leapt over to the spot where he had smashed into the railing and stood there for a few moments. As suddenly as he had left, he quickly sprinted back to his bonfire (actually managing to get back up to the Observatory merely by jumping) and swiftly knelt over his Bonfire with little ceremony, stretching out his hand. A sudden burst of flame course through him, and he was still for a few seconds.

Then he strode over to Rosalina, and clamped a heavy steel gauntlet down on her shoulder, gripping the poor frightened lady like a vise. "Before anything else, Lady Rosalina, and especially before the hostility starts. What happened to you in that room? And why the scream?"

For the most part, she was too dumbstruck with a myriad of volatile emotions to respond properly. But she managed. "I – uh – I fell asleep – th-then – my dream - I was in this abyss, a-a-and – my children – "

His hackles rose at the dreaded word, and he softened up considerably, although for the most part he was still quite guarded. "The Abyss? I see. A terrifying place to be in, even in spirit. And certainly harrowing, for your children in it… If there was a grain of truth in your dream... So you woke up in a panic, as people usually do. And then what made you want to kill me, dearest lady?"

"I-I-It was an a-accident! Y-Your approach w-w-was terrifying!" was the succinct answer. Almost a customary afterthought she hastily added, "I-If you intend to harm me, go ahead, I d-deserve it for my panic-fueled and ultimately reckless action. J-Just don't harm my child!"

"So I see things this way – as your child was in your room, you hastened to protect it, and thus was alerted as I approached." He gave himself a lopsided chuckle. "What a night for you indeed. I'll forgive you, all right." he finished, while Rosalina gradually regained her composure and allowed herself a sad smile. "I-I never said I was sorry, Sir... but ok. I'm truly sorry about k-knocking you into a railing and killing you. I tend to be on edge. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"It's all right, milady. Just don't let the panic get you, and you'll be all right." The knight replied warmly, all traces of hostility gone. Oliver watched the exchange uneasily, and when it was over he leapt up and squealed happily. But as Rosalina turned towards her Bedroom and started to excuse herself, the Undead chided her. "No can do for now, milady. You'd stay awake trying to sleep, except what you dreamt will keep you awake, and your child as well. And I'm right here, ready to help you, eh?" he stated primly. "But it's your choice."

She pondered this for a few moments. "I see your intentions are well-meant… but I'll have to put my child to sleep first, ok? Wait for me outside. And thank you, sir knight, sincerely." She put on her warmest smile, and stepped in the Bedroom, proceeding to start stroking Oliver on his now placid features. He cooed, and sighed and said, "That was close, Mama. What did you dream of?"

"That I'll tell you tomorrow, ok, Oliver? T'was a scary sight, to be sure. Just go to bed for now, ok, Oliver? Mama loves you…" She continue cooing and stroking him tenderly, until his eyes began to droop.

The Chosen Undead, meanwhile, pondered on one fact which struck him. He voiced this out to the Knightess, who was quite nonplussed at the recent turn of events, and wanted to give him a piece of her mind first.

 _So she killed you, eh? Well, what about-_

"It's not really her fault, knightess, she meant it not maliciously."

 _-your power? Won't it lessen your power considerable?_

"Ah, maybe, maybe. Mayhap you have a point. But so long as I am on her side, I need not worry." He stifled a smile and a blush under his visor.

 _Hmm, I see some hope within you two. You've manage to redefine "till death do us part", for that matter. That was definitely worth a rude awakening, eh?_

His grin grew wider. "Right there, right there. Anyways, as I was thinking…"

"…how come those little children of hers survived in the Abyss? If that dream of hers contained even just a tiny grain of truth, anyways..."

* * *

And yet hauntingly, the dream indeed had truth in it.

The Dark of the Abyss swilled around, disturbed by the large foreign unidentified object which had now entered it since two days ago… but it remained impenetrable, thanks to both the combined – and immense – power of the five terrified Lumas now currently bickering in it, and the fact that the Sarshroom was quite airtight... As for the Lumas They'd had enough of flitting around smashing random buttons and dials with their bare limbs, steering the Starshroom around the void, all to no effect. Then at first they sat down and wept fearfully… then as the Dark in them stirred, they became angry.

"We should never have left Mama!" screamed Scotty and Louise in unison. "You brought us into this, Zachary!"

"Oh, excuse me?" retorted the rebellious little miscreant. " _You_ followed _me_ on your own! Don't blame me for what you did, and be losers in the process!"

Looking pretty sheepish for themselves, the two backed down a bit, but then Bob, feeling level-headed for a Hungry Luma, defended them. "So what, Zachary? You were the one telling us to take initiative, along with all those things you said about Mama! You made us join you!"

"So what? It's still your fault you joined… don't blame me… you ought to try harder than that!" Zach replied with a sneer.

"But you did things to make us join you! Don't blame us entirely!" said the fourth of them, Lena, a normally yellow-colored Luma. She usually kept to herself and was usually overlooked by the other four, and up to this time she took no part in the chaos, but still was quite frightened, in her own way. This time, however, the situation enraged her, which gave way to a state of unruffled yet sordid calm in her mind, and her voice rang out crystal clear with quite an amount of authority and rage in it, surpassing even Zachary's stentorian voice and making him cower. "Don't you think you're acting like a loser yourself, running away from Mama like that and bringing us along with you – when you could have done it yourself, alone? And that big convincing, conniving act! Shame on you and us all for that, eh!"

Zachary was now trembling in rage. "You dirty little piece of – why, you came along with me, so you're not really exempt – "

"You don't say, Zachary! But it's not like you have all the blame in the world, we screwed up bad following you around until you got us into this... abyss! _This hell we can't escape from_! What kind of Luma are you, telling us of better things we now can't get thanks to what you did? You started this all, and you ought to bear it the most!" She then turned around to face a porthole in their Starshroom, which showed nothing but inky black outside. "And to think you'd throw your weight around and bicker instead of find a solution to this mess... and blame everyone else for what you took a part in. What a coward you are."

Stunned by this outburst, yet managing to muster the last of his remaining bravado, Zachary managed the most meager of his snarky replies. "And what do you intend to do, hmm? Solve this problem you speak of! I dare you. Elseways, we're all going to hell, and you deserve it! For being a Luma who can't -"

He was cut short as Lena suddenly sprang and threw the Starshroom's entryway wide, and let the Dark in. The lights from the tiny little spaceship were dimmed, eaten away greedily by the blackness, and the Lumas quailed at it collectively… save for one. A powerful draining sensation suddenly began to course through them all, but Lena was resolute, and she mustered up her strength to grab a startled Zach, shove him outside, and close the hatch tightly. The Dark remained, ever pervading, until finally the four Lumas overcame it and _actually absorbed it_ (as it was isolated), letting the lights return once more. Then they flopped to the ground, in a very weak state.

After a few moments more, Louise shakily sat up and clamped a hand down on Lena furiously. "Why did you do that?! Why did you kill him?! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU MONSTER-"

Lena reacted somewhat impassively. "Don't you think it had to be done? If he'd remained, he'd have stirred up more of our anger, which might have made us fight, knowing most of us can't ignore insults. And you know, fighting's not going to do us any good."

Scotty mumbled obeisance. "She's right, Louise. It had to be done, or else we'd all be kicking and biting inside here, and in minutes… Zach would've won."

Bob nodded in agreement. "So what do we do now?"

Lena sat down on the floor, reaching into the floorboards and, after a few minutes of probing, finally came up with a bag full of Star Bits, much to the other's amazement. "We can do nothing now. There is definitely no exit to this abyss. Let's just stay in here and stay alive, all right? Maybe Mama might find us… if she's still alive." She finished, handing out a Star Bit apiece to everyone.

"Hey, guys, I've got something I brought!" Louise added, pulling out a bag from behind the pilot's wheel, and dumping out three books and a Snakes and Ladders box. "We'll have this so we won't be bored, ok?"

Thus the four starchildren began their vigil of waiting, reading and playing… not noticing the immense serpent gathering up the now-unconscious Zachary in its maw.

* * *

After a long time of caressing, cooing and petting, Rosalina had finally put the poor tired Oliver to sleep. She listened to his rhythmic snores for a few minutes, and she began nodding off as well, very much tempted to join in the quest to Dream Land. Suddenly, as she started to drift off, an insidious mist began to form in her mind… and she immediately jolted awake. _Looks like he was right. Oh right, I forgot!_

Slowly getting out of bed as so not to wake Oliver up, she then quietly floated out of the Bedroom, and over to the knight, who was leaning against the outer wall of the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir!"

"That's quite all right, milady. Better late than never, so they say. Anyways…"

"I'd like to ask a question first, sir knight." She cut in. "Sorry. Well, how did you get reborn?"

"The knight cleared his throat, ready for a long night's worth of talking. "As an Undead I am inexorably linked to the First Flame, and thus to every Bonfire around and about. Thus, when I die, the Darksign brands me and I am reborn in the nearest and most recently used Bonfire, since it sustains us. However, this comes with the downside of me becoming Hollow, more known as a mindless, hostile Undead with a monstrous husk of a body. But, thing is, when I get reborn I'm not mindless yet. I still have purpose, so I'm all right, whether in Hollow form or not. The only downside is, every time I die, my memories and sanity slip away dependig if I still have a purpose in life or not."

"I see… so you try to stay alive as much as possible. Again, I'm deeply sorry – had you not been immortal, you might have died, and…" She sighed. "Mind I tell you something which might hurt your dignity as a living being?"

Quite startled at his lady's strange choice of words, and yet managing to play along, the Knight (with a bit of egging on from the Knightess) replied somewhat smoothly. "Maybe… but if it does hurt me, mind I tell you that I am a knight, and pass lightly, eh?"

At this remark, Rosalina's face cleared up. She gave herself a lopsided smile, and braced herself. "Ok. Here's the thing. The main reason I came here is that I work for some sort of peacekeepers' organization all over the universe." She cleared her throat, somewhat nervous. "Am I making any sense here?"

"What's a universe?" was the succinct reply. Trying to supress the smile that inevitably came was hard, but she managed to be patient about it. This was the first time she had dealt with a clueless anomaly, and it was taxing on her part.

"The universe is the entirety of all the galaxies, stars and heavenly bodies, like planets. A planet is where beings live, like this Lordran is your planet, as you live in it." She clarified somewhat vaguely.

"I see. But how can you manage something as large as the very cosmos itself?" the knight replied, intrigued.

"Um, let's say there's a lot of us, and that we all have enough power to live up to what we need to do" returned Rosalina, quite abashedly. Back at Smash Mansion, they were good comrades (or most of them were, anyways), had to protect their reaches of the cosmos, and had great fighting capability. She had to be proud of that.

"Ah, I see. Do continue." The knight returned, a bit… starstruck, to be sure, much to the Knightess' delight.

"Ok. So, all over the universe, we've been sensing disturbances from beings with immense amounts of power, which we call anomalies. We sense two here, one of which is you, and the other being the one who attempted to murder me and my families. Now, here's the hard part…" She sighed, now quite scared that a bad evening would turn into a worse one.

The knight immediately noticed this. "So that means - What's wrong, Lady Rosalina?"

"N-Nothing, eh, it's just that, uh, the hard part – "

"Don't get too scared, ok? Elseways you'll put up less of a fight when it comes to that, milady. If that is what you expect…" the knight returned. "But don't be worried, milady, I'll give my damnedest to not harm you. Carry on!"

Slightly buoyed by the knight's encouragement, and yet still wary, Rosalina shuddered, and began the tricky part. This she'd managed to hide in herself for so long. "Thanks for that, sir Stranger. I'll carry on, all right. So, these anomalies are a source of power, right? Let's say that our peacekeepers' organization needs just enough power to sustain itself. More so for the beings with godlike reaches. So, we have our unique sources of power, but sometimes it's just not enough. Then we spotted anomalous beings and disturbances all over the universes, most of them being evil and all. So we're sent out, either to capture those beings, or destroy them if the put up too much of a fight. Then we take them back, drain them of their energy, and…" She sighed, unable to continue. "Point is, I don't want to kill someone or something I could be friends with… and here you are right now, an anomaly who's doing just that. The first one in ages. And you're putting me into quite a dilemma." A deep sadness coursed through her entirety, leaving her pretty much drained again.

After a long period of pondering and consulting with the Knightess, the Knight finally spoke. "I see. I must be of much value to you, in different ways. Long time since that last happened, thanks a lot!" This made both of them smile. "But you know? Since I'm the first case when it comes to anomalies of my kind… let's try something different, shall we? But let's think it over later, eh?"

"You're quite… let's say, practical, eh? And I thank you for that!" exclaimed Rosalina, now quite relieved, grabbing his left gauntlet and clasping it warmly.

The Knight, quite embarrassed but still managing to play along, continued. "But we better move on to why I wanted to talk to you, eh?"

Rosalina, now quite intrigued, replied. "What exactly?"

"Your dream."

"Oh." She managed. "But why so interested about – oh yes, the Abyss. But why so interested?"

"I've been there before…" was the answer, "…and with a bit of stealth, I might be able to rescue the children you hold dear to yourself. If they are alive, that is -"

He was cut short as Rosalina suddenly wrapped him in a somewhat desperate embrace. "Please do… oh, I beg of you… save my poor children..." she pleaded quite desperately. The overpoweringly combined feelings of surprise, motherly love, worry, and desperation became all too much for her, and she began to weep uncontrollably onto the knight's shoulder. All throughout this, the knight did his best to hold the taller - and surprisingly heavier - woman upright while blushing furiously, the knightess chuckling quite amusedly at the scene. The sobs echoed throughout the night as the stalwart knight held his lady tight.

A few minutes later, the lady of the stars had finally calmed down. "Sorry about all that. I'm just on edge, and my children –" She stifled a sob. "I used to give little worth to them, at times even using them. I treated them like objects. And I paid the price when the blue murderer attacked. When we landed, most of them rebelled as I lay unconscious."

"I see. But that's the past, eh?" the knight returned. "And as for your children… I'll have to plan for a while. In your dream, were your children alive and healthy?"

"Yes, they were."

"Then they're bound to stay that way."

"I saw this huge… serpentine being too –"she mentioned, with a tinge of dread.

"Ah. Darkstalker Kaathe. Leader of the Darkwraiths and of the Abyss. My former master. But that's a story for another day, eh? That's the Abyss we're looking for, then – the Abyss I can visit. So, I'll take maybe two or three days, then I'll get them, sure!"

"Thank you… I will aid you in any way that I can, sir Stranger!" And with this, they laughed for quite a time.

After the chuckles had died down, the Knight broke the ensuing silence. "Mhmm… seems to me you're already calm enough to sleep, eh? That's it, that's it. You ok now?"

"Mmm hmm! Strange eh, we're getting so close to each other, and you've even been able to calm me down, despite us knowing each other for just a day. Pretty amazing, huh? Well, again, thank you about all this, and please." She took his hands, staring at him longingly. "Rescue my children, ok? If you do so, I'll try to help you stay alive once we get back to my home, all right?"

"Fair enough deal, milady! And good night to you!" replied the knight.

They parted quite regretfully, Rosalina heading to the Bedroom and getting slowly into the bed and nodding off into Dream Land without any further repercussions. Meanwhile, the Knight, satisfied with his work, walked back to his Bonfire and sat down beside it, talking with the Knightess once more.

 _So now you've got her, ehh?_

"No, knightess, no. Especially not if her superiors kill me, and even more so if there's competition for her hand back in her home."

 _And for good reason, indeed. But about her children... be prepared about all the Darkwraiths, we're in for a bloody fight, if you really have drawn much of their ire, as I can gather._

"Indeed. By the way, knightess, I'm in a mind to upgrade you a bit, in preparation for the trip to the Abyss."

 _Oh, I'm in for a world of pain, right?_

"Depends. Don't worry, an ascension won't take that long. Also, I took this from your body." He pulled out a copy of Darkmoon Blade. "If it works – "

 _I get the drift, eh? But it's gonna hurt. Well, I'll brace meself for it, ok? And off to sleep for both of us. Save the thinking for when you're well awake for it, eh?_

"Sure, knightess. Sure."

* * *

Zachary awoke in a cage. Looking around the intense Dark swathing the Abyss, he finally found a source of light.

A Bonfire.

But this calmed him not, as the shapes of monstrous Darkwraiths preceded over by one Primordial Serpent stood wreathed in it's light.

But he was not one to scream in panic; he was a different Luma, born to deceit and cunning. Or so he told himself, anyways. He floated to the middle of the cage, and there he stayed, plotting his escape, and cursing his fate all the while. "Curses on that Lena… curses on that Rosalina… curse this abyss… curse it all!"

Kaathe paid no heed to these castigations, though. "So it seems our little captive has awakened. Very good. He is of immense power. You were right, my Darkwraiths. Now we shall have an Emissary of our own, thanks to this lovely turn of events. Very well done, everyone!" He laughed in delight, the sibilant sound spreading through the Abyss, with his Darkwraiths following suit. "Now, noble Darkwraiths, we need to spread the Abyss, more than ever. The Fire is strong, and will not fade for a long time, thanks to that insect Solaire. But for now, we have a weapon, but it may only be used at the right time. And more are waiting in that strange container, though it remains impenetrable. So for now..."

"…we merely bide our time."

* * *

And that's it for now! Stay tuned, and rate and review, people! If there's anything right or wrong in this writing, feel free to tell me. Peace out!

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	9. Subterfuge

HEEEeeeEERE COoooMEEEES DAT BOIIIIiiiIII! With another chapter, no less.

And by the way…Thanks for 2000 views (and counting)! Yet another milestone reached. And also, thanks for the reviews and follows – they're motivation in their own way, of course. \\[T]/ And again, I apologize for being sporadic in my uploading new chapters – school's keeping me busy these days.

And as to a query I have received, here's the answer:

The Undead's going to mention Solaire to the echelons of Smash Mansion (the two of them being close Sunbros) when it comes to that point in the story, anyways. As for how he became the star of the planet system containing Lordran, I'll have to work out an explanation for that, sooner or later. But not for now, not yet.

And now, as per publication standards…

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Smash Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, or Dark souls and their characters, this goes to Nintendo and FromSoftware, respectively.

* * *

Chapter the Ninth

As the night drew further on, and the moon shone down upon the Observatory, bathing it in an eerie glow, the specter known as the Cosmic Spirit soon materialized onto the empty Garage. Taking cursory looks about the ship her daughter lived and traveled in, the specter marveled and prided herself on the wondrous structure her daughter had built. " _Excellent architecture, making it last for eons. A feat I could not achieve, not in my time."_ She sighed morosely at the thought of life, and all the memories long past, now flowing once more into consciousness… and how close it was to her grasp. She thought of all the things she could do, all the steps she could take along with her daughter, and all the joy that would reign once more in her life-bereft spirit. " _Seems to me I'll take this chance. But I'll have to wait and see about the wielders of these powers. Maybe they might not be so agreeable to each other when the time comes."_

Then, remembering her agenda, she began to head towards the patch of earth bearing the Terrace and the Bonfire, and of course the knight who thrived upon it. " _Now I'll have to see if my daughter does have any right to trust that Undead – though when I did observe him in my travels he was quite pure of heart. But of course of course, I have to take precaution."_

She drew nearer to the knight's squatting frame, which rose and fell with each lusty snore. " _Hmm… fast asleep. Let me double-check."_ She was decided to risk a probe into his mind, and held out a shimmering hand at the knight… when suddenly, a sharp, restrictive barrier accompanied by a piercing _HALT!_ stopped her in her tracks.

Managing to hide her surprise, she steeled herself, and drew back her hand. _"Greetings. Forgive my intrusion. May I explain myself, er, knightess, was it?"_

The sword, equally surprised, was now quite leery at what she immediately perceived an intruder. _Don't you dare lay a finger on my Knight. Not while he's asleep. I'll wake him if I have to –_

" _This is a misunderstanding, miss knightess! Stay yourself! I mean no harm! We can talk this over!"_

 _Hmpf. So much for that, eh, lady Rosalina? And how do you know my name?_ The blade retorted. _You managed to eavesdrop on our minds? Hmmm…_

" _Yes, I did probe into your minds… but I am not Rosalina. I am her deceased mother. Whether you find that hard to believe or not is up to you. But believe me here – I mean your Knight no harm."_ The specter replied hastily. _"I just want to see if I can trust you both, and then tell my daughter about it."_

 _I see… taking risks, eh? You know what…_ The blade pondered for a few more moments. _I'll accept that reasoning._

The specter sighed, relieved. She was not wanting a scuffle here. _"Well, I thank you for understanding. But, one thing, miss Knightess."_ Her voice became a bit steelier as she thundered out her ultimatum. _"Please do remind your wielder not to harm my child – she is pretty vulnerable as of late, for a powerful being like her."_

 _Noted._ The knightess replied warily. _But what is it you seek from my friend?_

" _I only need to know if he will be a good liege to his lady."_ The specter returned, her tone now quite civil.

 _Ah, I see. Securing her future, even in the most underhanded of ways.. The mark of the good mother, so they tell me._ The knightess lowered her mental guard – enough for the specter to access her friend's mind. _Do as you will._

" _Don't you worry, I'm true to my word. And I've done this before…"_ said the specter as she reached out again and began to fade away, now managing to ebb into the knight's mind…

…where she was greeted by nearly the same abyss which had swallowed up her five grandchildren – except there were multiple souls – tiny white shades hungry for power - in it this time. In a trice she'd nearly been swallowed up by the ravenous specters, and she had barely managed to conjure up a shield and let out a small gust of Force to fend them off.

Once the sprites realized they could not consume the being within them, they skulked off sheepishly, revealing a warm bright light in the distance. She floated towards it carefully, then stopped at a distance, staying unnoticed from what she perceived to be two figures sitting near a bonfire.

One of them was a short and squat figure clad in a toga and holding a long, malformed piece of wood. The other one was the knight, clad in his armor as usual. They were debating among themselves quite animatedly, so she decided to eavesdrop.

* * *

"It's been a long time since I've actually talked to someone. Well, this is a refreshing experience, and I thank you for that, Chosen Undead. But I warn you – the next minutes won't be so cozy." Said the toga-clan man.

"I understand." The undead, ever so used to the horrors of life, had yet to experience the horror of being chewed out by a parent like Rosalina. And despite his efforts to hide how unsettled he was, it still showed, which amused the other man. "Lead on, Father."

"So, Chosen Undead, as they call you. What is it that forced you to kill your own father?" the toga-clad figure began somewhat imperiously.

"Well, father," said the knight, somewhat in a quandary now, "you were an enemy that time. You were pretty much in a blind rage there, I must say, and had you gone on with spreading the Abyss they might have come down to kill you themselves-"

"They?" interrupted his father.

"Uh, Lord Gwyn." stammered the knight quite uncomfortably.

"I see… and of course you took his prophecy. So much for a child of mine, eh?" returned the father quite sarcastically. "And indeed you hurried the process along. I had dealt with one of Gwyn's pitiful Four Knights - you finished him off yourself, I should note – and I would have turned the rest, had they came down to meet me. I would have nonetheless gotten the world… if not for you." The last remark being laden with venom. "Ever since my claiming the Dark Soul and splitting it, I have been hoping that, one day, all my plans, my hopes and dreams might come to fruition. I worked so hard, came even as far as gaining an army, the fearsome army of the Darkwraiths. I even had a Primordial Serpent – Kaathe – by my side. And yet, still… after all the hardships, the scheming and the pain… _all of it is put to waste because of you! A child of mine, siding with the enemy! I nearly had taken the world, and you ruined all my efforts!"_ The man then lividly struck the hapless Undead with his staff – who retaliated by jabbing him in the stomach with a stiff steel gauntlet. "You dare interrupt?!"

"Enough father. Listen out to my side. Why, isn't that the only reason you wanted to talk with me? To understand me? Know my flaws, and correct them?" The knight laid a placating hand on his father's shoulder, who promptly brushed it off and retorted brusquely.

"You have some rudiments of sense... but you still are quite gullible. Even if you never knew about my plan about the Dark Soul, you always had me in you – your dark, Human side, which most of you children of mine regarded as evil, thanks to those bastards the gods. Tch." The man spat disgustedly. "I was always calling out to you, but you never listened, always sticking to what you perceived as the good of all… when it wasn't. To link the fire and save the world… save the world, bah! The world simply fell into yet more chaos when the Flame was rekindled. What about the Dark, now, eh? What is it that makes it so ungainly?"

"The Dark is far more chaotic than the Light. The Light, however, allows prosperity and progress, even if just a hair, a fleeting thread of it. As for the Dark, not so. Hey, who could work and thrive in the Dark? You could, perhaps, and all the other primordial beings out there, but the rest of existence couldn't. Wouldn't that count as being selfish on your part? To take all existence for yourself and a select few?"

The knight's retort was a crusher. It took several moments' pondering on the man's part, and in the ensuing silence, the knight continued on, musing. "Mhmm… and I wager you'd allow your creations – chaotic as they are - to ravage the world when you took it, squabbling among themselves as well? Doesn't a kingdom divided fall? Neither good for both Light and Dark, neh? And about the prophecy, I did take it, except someone else lit the First Flame." The knight finished, afraid of what would happen next. Had he pissed off his father again? But instead, after yet a few moments' pondering, the man gave himself a lopsided grin and chuckled, pacified.

"Quite intelligent and convincing you think yourself to be, eh? Impressive… you have a point of view that's yet to be seen." remarked who we now know as the knight's father. "Chin up, son. You might last some moments against Kaathe, with all his tricks, snares, barbs and rhetoric… Anyways, continue on."

"Well, uh, I figured out I wanted to save Oolacile as well. I saw the world was going quite… twisted there. Harmful even to fragments of the Dark Soul, like me. Which, again, showed me what might happen if the Abyss spread with your madness in the reins."

"Ah, I see. So you wanted to calm me down… And then you took my soul, let it rest, and it was pretty ingenious, that idea of yours. Using the Dark Hand to steal away all the rampant Humanity, thus purifying me. So what is it you drive at now?" the father asked. "Yes, I might be sane, but I am useless in this form, even if you place me in a weapon. I detest those forms, as I will be naught but active in my goal to spread my realm."

"No, father. That is not the case here…" returned the knight, now quite eager to explain his plans. "I have this friend who can craft a suitable body for you. And she also is against the forces of some other violent realm, as I can see, which is led by one blue spectral murderer." The knight pressed on. "We can help them in their war effort, broker truces, and spread the Abyss in that other realm, Subspace. Who knows how massive it might be?" he finished with a flourish.

"Ah, the idealistic, if not justified yet correct type." The father chuckled heartily. "Mayhap you have some sense in your endeavors. That is splendid to see, now that I am elucidated by your justifications. We shall talk again, soon, my child." He rose as if to leave.

The knight smiled, relieved. His father was quite a just man when it came to negotiations. He was, say… more reasonable than even Ser Miller, one of his instructors back in the camp who sided with him in the fiasco against Lautrec. "I see. Thank you, father Manus."

The toga-clad figure suddenly reverted to a brilliant pale white tongue of flame – a sprite – chuckling yet more. "Father Manus, I like that, heh! I'll give the matter some thought, son of mine. Though you're still wet behind the ears, though – you forgot to include the Darkwraiths and Kaathe in this jolly conversation of yours. Do remember, they're quite zealous when it comes to the development of the Abyss."

"I will, and a thousand thanks, Father Manus." The knight replied heartily. "I'll see to it your ambition comes to fruition."

The sprite then finally shimmered away, and the knight squatted down near his mind's Bonfire, happy and at ease. His father was quite all right, and it pleased him so.. In a few more moments, his mind and soul began to empty themselves of coherence, and he finally fell asleep in the truer sense.

* * *

Seeing that there was nothing more of interest, the Cosmic Spirit sighed, not quite sure what to feel about this new development. Was she really willing to risk aiding the brood of a devourer of worlds, inadvertently leading to the ruin of possibly the whole universe? Or might they be willing to work hand in hand for the good of all, to defeat the bloodthirsty echelons of the forces of Subspace?

She turned, began to phase away from the mind of the Undead… and suddenly, a hand clamped down upon her wrist like a vise. She turned around, startled for the second time in the night, stopped in her tracks by the Father, once more in his Human form.

A chilling panic began to set in after the initial shock at the face of such a formidable figure, but the specter managed to hold her composure. She then hurriedly thought of a plan of action. Instead of immediately beginning to offer excuses which might have put her into jeopardy, she stared back at the Father of the Abyss' cold, ruthless eyes and greeted him levelly, making titanic efforts to ensure her trepidation didn't show.

" _Good evening to you, Sir Manus_."

"And good evening to you as well, lady." He replied with an equally civil tone. Suddenly, a vacuum-like sensation began to creep into the Cosmic Spirit's hand, ebbing away at her essence greedily. "Hmm… it seems we have what is either a powerful soul or an intruder. Female, no less. But how do you identify yourself, then?" Manus' steely voice thundered out its' ultimatum. "Make your claims quickly, or perish. I will not allow anything harmful to befall my child…"

" _I am the mother of your child's friend, the lady she mentioned – the lady who could bring you back to life. I am here because I fear that my daughter might be betrayed by someone she has yet to know, so thus I probe into your child's mind."_ Her face remained stolid, never showing the slightest bit of emotion, and matching her opponent's countenance.

"I see… and what if you are lying?"

" _That you will have to judge for yourself, sir. We both act for the welfare of our children… but it is for the common good that we must unite. But as for me, I speak the plain truth_."

Manus pondered upon this statement for a few moments, weighing several things quite heavily as his hand clamped down upon the spectral lady's arm like a vise, seeping away more of her essence – which, it seemed was boundless in nature. After a full minute, he spoke.

"So it seems we share the same goals… but you're being quite underhanded in your attempts to probe into my son's mind. I sense a certain insidiousness in your intrusion, and for that I will have to deal with you, dear lady of the stars."

Rallying his power, he gave out a mighty roar, and started to ramp up the spell's intensity… when the other spirit suddenly loosed a strong Force which was enough to knock him five feet away. As he slowly came to his senses, the Cosmic Spirit floated over and crouched near him, offering to help him up. " _Forgive me, Sir… but I will not be trifled with so easily. But do forgive me, please. I should have not intruded like this, and as for striking you, I just acted on self-defense there, and I do really want to have–"_

The Furtive Pygmy chuckled softly. "It's all right, it's all right, marm. Fancy yourself the tough one, neh? Impressive, actually." He refused the proffered hand and go up on his own, dusting his clothes. "But I have yet more to learn about about you, and I have yet to learn how to defeat you. Scrub that smug look on your face, marm – we are yet to clash, sooner or later! I'd love to spar with someone the likes of you."

Quite put out by the violence of his opponent, and in a furtive, yet relieved mood, the Cosmic Spirit nodded. " _It is well, then, Sir Manus of the Abyss. I do hope you will consider my offer of pacifism, though. I'll be gone, and do take care on who you trifle with next time._ "

She then – finally! – managed to ebb out of the fabric of the Undead's mind, and out into the cool night's breeze of Anor Londo.

After two minutes' time of relieved basking in the moonlight, the Cosmic Spirit sudeenly felt herself flickering. _"Oh. Time's up, I guess."_

Silently thanking the Knightess (who was now in rest, or whatever counted for rest as a sword, anyways) for allowing her into the Undead's mind, she then ebbed out of her physical form and began speeding toward her next point of interest.

* * *

The Furtive Pygmy was quite disconcerted by how his interrogation went. He'd expected even just the slightest bit of discomfort and fear from his adversary. He always had that effect on his opponents, and yet more so on the female ones…

…and yet here was one exception.

This soul he had found was confident. Defiant. It had resisted him, and it was quite clear that she wasn't merely bluffing. He'd already used his most favorite draining spell on her, and yet she was still alive for the time being, and counting. What was more, she was actually had enough sense to refute him in a verbal debate.

In short, he'd found his match. And it irked him off. No one dared resist the might of the Father of the Abyss – except for his children. But still… quite a woman that was. One that left a strong impression on him. Indeed, he was growing eager yet for their next encounter.

What was more unnerving was his child, the Chosen Undead. He had not taken the side of the Light, nor the Dark – he had taken the progress and prosperity of the mortal side, Human, Hollow or not. That was an entirely different worldview, one only he knew of, and one that still had to be seen.

But then, after pondering yet more, the thoughts began to weigh heavily on him, and he began to grow weary. "I'll have to ponder this alone, undisturbed and well-rested, then." He mused to himself, turning once more into a Humanity.

He then closed his spectre's eyes and drifted off into a troubled sleep.

* * *

As the hours of night wore on and the moon glowed ever brighter in the sky, the Sentinels and Silver Knights finally finished their rounds and turned in for their reports, overseen by none other than Master Gwyndolin behind his fog wall.

At the end of everything, the God of the Darkmoon felt somewhat distraught at the powerful invaders that had dared land upon the home of the gods themselves… and yet was astonished by their surprising power.

"I care not for the Chosen Undead," his soft, sibilant voice intoned, "he is quite impudent to our cause. What bothers me though… that woman in question. She managed to pulverize one of your kind? With just a wave of her palm? Impossible… and yet true, as it seems. And you say the Darkmoon Knightess has been taken from us as well… Pah. Now not only has this invader defaced and defiled the manor of the gods… she has taken one of our own as well, aided by a false hero who we once worked with in bringing the Age of Fire back to its' former glory." He spat contemptuously. He brooded for a few moments, while his stalwarts stood at attention by his fog wall.

After a long silence, he spoke again, in clipped tones. "Against a being like that we will stand no chance in a full-frontal attack. What we need is subterfuge. I shall post the Hawkeyes to watch for further developments, and to apply deadly force if needed. The rest of you, take your leave. You are dismissed. We shall deal with these upstarts on the morrow, when we find a suitable plan of attack."

A crisp "Yessir!" echoed across the hallways of Anor Londo, followed by the shuffling of ironclad feet. After a while more, the God of the Darkmoon returned to the Tomb of his father and sat in the solitary chair in the middle of the room bothered.

 _Why must the Chosen Undead be on the invaders' side,_ he mused to himself, _when he has quite recently lit the First Flame? He should be Cinders by now. Oh, I wonder... what woeful foes we come against. Although the rekindled Flame gives me respite... some of our best blades, especially the poor Knightess, have been taken. Gah. I'll have to think this over. I must not fail. Not for my family, nor for the good of all._ He sat in vigil, never sleeping, always alert for anything that may arrive to despoil the tomb of his Father.

And as the night grew deeper in gloomy, curse-torn Lordran… it was very much the opposite of the world of Trophies.

* * *

Smashville. A vibrant, currently sunny place. Where its' citizens lived in peace… or fought fiercely either for leisure or to prove their mettle.

But the mood was quite dismal for one certain entity.

Master Hand rifled through the slew of paperwork on his appropriately-sized desk in Smash Mansion, looking worriedly at a schedule he'd set up on a corkboard and at the desk drawer he'd been rifling through. _Lucky for me Crazy's still out there on vacation, on that galaxy he'd talked about.. Elseways I'd never find what I'm looking for, eh. Pity for the galaxy, though._

He sighed absentmindedly as he found the thing he was searching for – a particularly nasty collateral damage case, filed by the last beach resort they visited. It was, of course, another common "accident". To be specific, the ladies had blown up the bathrooms after an altercation between them and some Peeping Toms who generally were led by Wario or Falcon (the former being the instigator this time), and meant no harm at all… except to the ladies' privacy and dignity. They'd already settled the case, and of course they were found guilty.

As a result poor Wario was suspended (which was quite a relief to some), and the Mansion had to shell out some obscene amount of money, of course. Which was no problem for Master hand, he was an entity of creation after all. It was no problem for him to create legal tender out of thin air. (Neither was creating banquets and banquets of food just for one tiny pink black hole - or, say, puffball, and yet more than just him, anyways.) Now all he had to do was to wrap things up with the resort authorities. Finito.

But what worried him was the schedule. A lot of ends hadn't met back there, the deadlines for the tournament were fast approaching, and he still felt the roster of fighters felt quite short when it came to hype. But that could be taken care of, sooner or later.

Lastly, there were all the disturbances popping up in the universe, and to top it all off, one of his most reliable agents - Rosalina - had not returned at her usual punctuality. She had left for the latest anomaly seven days ago, the distance to the signal being manageable by her Comet Observatory in a scant two days. "She should be back by now…" he mused to himself worriedly.

He brooded over this for a few more moments, unable to make neither head nor tail of this. Rosalina was always punctual in her endeavors, even with her Luma children to take care of. She always arrived right before her deadline, or a scant few minutes late – which, combined with her usual outstanding performance in the field, made her the best scout in their circles - if not in the whole universe, even. The rest of them still had a few points to work on… especially Kirby with his innocent childishness, Fox with his cocksureness, Captain Falcon and his pride… and the list went on.

This here was a first-time scenario, and quite a terrible scenario indeed. He weighed the possibilities heavily. _Ah, well._ He thought long and hard about this matter. _Something might have happened to her, or something might have taken her. That's the worst-case scenario. But if not, she's probably delayed by her children once more. But still... We can't take much risks, not especially if the possibility of her being compromised exists... Anomalies could do as much. Guess I'm going to have to call our second-best scout…_ He flicked on an intercom, and then called for Fox.

A little while later the mercenary arrived at the door, breathless and yet surprisingly eager. "Present and correct, sah! What is it you need? And by the way, where's Rosalina? Said she'd be back by now before she left…" he rattled on.

"Well, Fox, that's exactly why I called you. She hasn't been back, and that must have dire implications on her – "Master Hand began.

"Oh, please, Master Hand, sah. Don't worry much about that friend of ours." Fox began quite proudly. "She's been able to take care of a family while doing those requests of yours for eons. Don't you think she's had the power to fend for herself all those millennia? Against even world-eating monsters?" He finished, confident in Rosalina's power. They'd had dealings over the past three years, and he'd been a witness of her immense capability as both a fighter and a mother.

"I agree, Fox… and yet something seems quite strange with her tardiness now. She's been early for all the decades of work we've shouldered together. Personally, I'd say that's trouble." Master Hand returned levelly. "But what can you suggest?"

"Personally," the mercenary started, "I suggest leaving her be for about a day more, and if she doesn't come back, that's when I'd get worried. Maybe she's busy kicking the anomaly's hide?" he finished suggesting. "Besides, I've a few brawls to fight today, sah."

"All right then, Fox. I'll have to take your word on that… for now." Master Hand sighed. "Dismissed, and oh, by the way, thanks."

As Fox dashed out and closed the door, Master Hand muttered to himself about bills and went back to perusing his paperwork. "This is certainly going to be one taxing week."

* * *

And thus ends another chapter. Rate and review, as always, and if anything's right or wrong, do tell me!

\\[T]/


	10. Siege

And the stream of ideas flows on once more, after a long dry spell! Though, I must say, sorry for the long, long, long delay! Schoolwork never let me through too easily, not for a whole semester, burr aye!

Just one thing. Forgive the inaccuracies. This thing was started a scant twenty-three days before Dark Souls 3 – and the Nameless King – was released, hence the old, outdated theories. Let's just be calm and protean about this, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Smash 4, Super Mario Galaxy, or Dark Souls, this goes to Nintendo and FromSoftware, respectively.

CHAPTER THE TENTH

The first rays of early morning sunlight crept upon the Comet Observatory and streamed into the Bedroom, shining lightly upon the Lady of the Stars' uncovered side of her face, slowly irritating her into wakefulness. She groaned softly, noting that by her bedside clock it was already 6:45. _Good grief, I should be making more bread now. And taking a bath. Crikey, I sure reek._ She got out of her bed and padded softly outside, keen on keeping the snoring little Luma asleep…

…when a greatarrow the size of a spear flashed by, casually pinning her right arm into the wall. She stifled a wail of pain, and looked at where the arrow came from. Her sharp sight beheld two ironclad archers bearing enormous bows; one had finished firing, and the other was nocking another immense arrow. Hastily, she cast up a force field around the Observatory, shutting out the next arrow which bounced off the barrier harmlessly.

Woken by the din, the Undead ran over and wordlessly pulled out the exceedingly large, deadly projectile... albeit far too roughly. A spurt of blood quickly began gouting out of the sizeable gash, along with a strange blue liquid. That was the medium for her magic, and now it was imperative she didn't lose it all. She gritted her teeth and hissed, "Don't be so rough, sir! I feel pain, too!" as a starburst left her palm and closed her the gaping wound in her forearm, along with the torn cloth.

"Tch, sorry, m'lady," he returned, quite startled and out of breath," it's just that we'd 'ave to hasten now, or be slain!"

"There's no rush, sir, you won't die, nor me, not on my watch. None of us will even get harmed, I assure you... except probably my clothing." She replied warmly this time, giggling at her own joke... although the signs of a great strain were fresh upon her face. "I'll do my best regarding that."

After calming down, they began to scrutinize their position. "Looks like it's the two damnedest, most hawk-eyed archers in the lot," the Undead muttered darkly under his breath. At Rosalina's questioning looks, he explained a bit more thoroughly. "They stay flanking the edges of this tiny ledge in this manor of the gods. Many heroes have to pass through the ledge – and in effect, those two – in order to claim the Lordvessel from Lady Gwynevere, and many have died thanks to their efforts. Including me. Though it's worrying to see them out of their post - they'd never leave it, usually..."

The Lady of the Stars pursed her lips and thought for a while. "I see. Well, it won't really matter since we have our shields… but they're weaker, and will only last until five days, due to my limited power. Please do forgive me if that puts us at risk…"

"That would be all right, Milady. Just… worry about your child and yourself, and none else for now." Returned the knight, his grogginess still overtaking him, resulting in slurred speech." Also, we have the assurance of having the high ground this time. So, what do you think we should do?"

"I'd prefer taking those damn archers out, milady… though they also bear my curse, it seems." He spat, annoyed. "Every time I kill them, they come back. They'll keep coming back for more, I'm afraid."

"Well… I'll just see to our household. That's the best I can do for now. If you won't mind, would you be so kind to take up the defense of my home? Pray forgive me, we have merely two days in full security. Until then we will have meager victuals – I mean food here - with which I will manage to the best of my abilities unhindered."

"I see. Though, a reminder to make it a bit easier, I don't eat. Well, I'd always like those Silver Knights _hors de combat,_ so it's a deal, then." The knight finished, then faded from view all of a sudden. "Just let me out of your shell for a moment."

"Sure, then. I'll be in my Kitchen – that building, over there – if you need me." Rosalina held out an outstretched palm as if to wave goodbye, and the field disappeared. "Please be safe."

Another flurry of greatarrows thunked squarely into the shield, each with little success. The first Silver Knight sighed and remarked, very annoyed, " 'Tis a shame, seeing our targets in plain sight and not being able to get at them. That first arrow should have been aimed at the noggin', and all this would have been over by now."

"Nah, nah, messmate, doesn't take just an arrow to end one like that. I've seen that before, believe me," the other archer shot back.

Well, what do you suppose we'll do?" the first archer asked irritatedly. "Let's face it, there's nothing we can do, and I'm sure we can't just wait for that barrier thing to run out."

"Shall we just go back to Master Gwyndolin and make this hour's report now? This might be in his magic's purview…" the other archer suggested. "Especially concerning these… strange, five-pointed objects we found embedded into the walls and floor of this building."

"Tchaaah!" The Silver Knight loosed an arrow, hissing in disdain as it clacked uselessly off the field. "Mistress, more like – "

"Shut your trap and quit wastin' arrows there! They might hear you, blithering oaf!" the second archer hissed back, elbowing him as the first archer stifled his mirth. "Don't call our lord that… you know what he might do! It'll be the end of you!"

"So what exactly are you afraid of?" the first archer sneered back. "We're undead too, in some way they should never know about or figure out, heh! They aren't going to kill us forever, the most they can do is just starve us, which won't work, obviously. Huh, we ain't gonna end till the world ends. And about Mistress Gwyndolin, a little humor never hurt nobody, eh?"

"Touche, mon ami. Touche. But we'll have to deal with this beauty for now – and giggling about our master's gender won't help matters any. Come on, let's go to him, or her, or whichever you prefer – hey, what the – "

The second Silver Knight stared startled as his friend was suddenly silenced, blood spurting from an ugly gash on the armor near his neck.

A fleetingly insidious movement crossed his vision – a band of mist standing in front of him, almost looking like… like it was a man rearing up to attack. Galvanized into action, he raised his shield and blocked a hefty blow from the mist cloud. _Cripes,_ he thought, _it's a bastard with a Fog Ring._

He swung in the direction of the mist, and his sword was met with a block. He rolled a way, and they circled each other warily, blocking wherever he saw the mist struck, returning blows with full force.

The end came, undoubtedly, when the mist cloud suddenly leapt at him, in what the Silver Knight correctly assumed was a leaping attack. The Knight sidestepped easily as the assailant landed its' attack harmlessly on the roof, cracking it slightly. He grinned under his helmet, and prepared a mighty overhead chop…

…which was met with the unmistakable sound of a Parrying Dagger clinking near the sword's quillons. _Oh, crap._ Suddenly he flat on his back, smacked away roughly by a great blow to his midsection. He was then on the ground, stunned, helpless, waiting for the inevitable riposte.

But before the mist cloud could finish him, bounding steps echoed around the stairwell. Archer #1 flashed up the stairs in a roll, and then quickly loosed a greatarrow that was nocked on his half-stretched bow. It smashed into the mist cloud, drawing a hefty amount of blood.

He waited for his partner to come to him, and plunged blades into him together. But no, the thing wasn't done yet.

After a few seconds' worth of pulling their blood-slick swords out of the mist cloud, the cocky bastard suddenly loosed Wrath of the Gods, neatly vaporizing them both and sending them back to their posts near the balustrade with major headaches. What was worse, when they checked their inventories, the mysteriously powerful star-shaped objects were gone.

After a few moments' worth of leaning against the walls keening and dry-puking into the empty space below them, cursing their fortunes all the while, the first Silver Knight coughed spoke. "That, my friend, is our cue to get to Mistress Gwyndolin- I mean Master Gwyndolin, if you please."

"Well. What did I tell you, you oaf?" the second archer shot back smugly as he started walking shakily down the balustrade. "Come on, get your rump up and let's make our damn report."

Little Oliver woke a bit later than the morning's festivities, sorely hungry. He sat up hazily, his vision clearing gradually, and got out of bed slowly, asking himself where Mama went. He stepped outside and beheld smoke wafting gently from the Kitchen. _Ah,_ he thought, _this must be something good for us to eat, right from the oven!_

He ran straight on to the Kitchen, with his mind occupied, eager for a day full of fun with Mama. But had he looked left towards the roof of Anor Londo, he would have seen poor Sir Stranger banging ceaselessly upon the force field with a greathammer, swearing under his breath and pleading for someone to open the damn thing and let him in.

He entered the Kitchen and saw Mama – oh, joy! – kneading dough for more bread. She wiped her brow with her forearm, turned and managed to neatly catch Oliver mid-leap. "Good morning, my child! How do you do?"

"I feel very good, Mama, thank you! How about you?" said the little Luma, quite overjoyed and now cuddling into his mother's chest. "Will you let me knead again?"

"I feel… only a bit good, Oliver… and yes, you can knead, if you'd want." She handed her child the bowl and sighed.

"Why so, Mama?" A look of consternation was upon Oliver's face as he began to hammer down on the bread.

"Well, let me tell you something only you could understand, Oliver." At her child's attentive silence, she pulled up a chair, sat down and continued wearily. "Oh, Oliver… I've just been pondering about how people treat me"

"Pondering? What does that mean, Mama?" asked the confused little Luma.

"Oh, sorry, it means thinking hard about something." Rosalina answered somewhat absentmindedly. "Anyways, to continue... I'm just annoyed at how people treat me. Even my friends. Even, sometimes, you, my children. First of all, a lot of people think I'm invincible. Unbeatable. A mighty, perfect being who cannot be defeated in any way. People think the reason I joined Smash and all those other competitions is because I wanted a challenge; that, after a long sojourn of winning, I wanted to _lose._ That I wanted to feel all the feelings normal people felt. But I'm definitely not what they assume about me. What's more, they're spreading their assumptions around, which leads to a lot of misunderstandings about me. And I hate it. Do you get what I imply, my child? Sometimes, it gets on my nerves to see even my children thinking the same way."

Oliver had stopped kneading at this point, giving his full attention to Rosalina. He averted his eyes guiltily. "Indeed, Mama. But what about the other people?"

He was suddenly taken aback by the hard, angry stare his mother had on her usually serene face. "Those people… they are the ones who hate me and see nothing but my weakness. Who throw insults at me, and see me as a lazy guardian and mother, who think that I join those events I joined in order to feel superior. And unfortunately, though their insults matter not, it is the fact that they are the majority of the people I can encounter. And their combined number is…infuriating."

Oliver huddled close to Mama. "Can't we just ignore them, Mama?"

"I've tried." was the sullen answer. "Tried, time and time again, only to burst out in anger in the Fountain or in Smash Mansion's garden or somewhere nobody sees me. It just… it just pisses me off to see people not seeing both sides of me for once, eh?"

"Oh, I see… no wonder I hear all those scary explosions and screams at night back then… but, really, Mama. You could just ignore them, right? It's no trouble at all… what they're saying isn't true! Don't let them get to you! Besides, Mama… you have me! And Stranger too! And your friends like Mario! And Luigi, and Princess Daisy…" He sidled up closer to Rosalina, trying to be as cheery as possible. But she didn't reply, instead sitting down stock-still on her stool with a strange, pensive look on her eyes. But a while later, the Lady of the Stars' countenance softened up considerably. "Well, thanks a lot, Oliver, for the encouragement. Where'd you get all those words from?"

Oliver stiffened a bit. "Uh, Mama, it's pretty hard to explain, but, um… Grandma's been visiting me lately. She says she has discovered something very horrible in the Abyss she's found that she has to monitor. She said it was a Luma, Mama, and they were turning it Dark! And the rest of the Lumas weren't around in that Starshroom! But anyways, she told me to tell you what I just said – especially this. She said, "Tell your mother not to worry about her enemies, grandson, if they hurt her by word only. Because sometimes, all one does need in the world is a bit of quiet by yourself and your peers. The ones who truly love you and care for you. Away from worthless scum who are nothing but all talk. They've got nothing on her except probably deafening her. And the only real damage will be done if she gives in to their taunts." He coughed, and continued. "Though I'm not really sure what peers are, Mama… Mama, Mama? Are you all right?"

"Nothing, my son. It's just that… that… your Grandmother's the person I really need… but she does need to give me more time… instead of just… flitting away all the time, risking her life… just like how I treat you…" she spluttered out in between sniffles. "And… and… and one of my children's being turned?! I-I should not have…" The tears began flowing down her face again. "That's a whole lot of power… into the enemy's hands… I've really done it this time, have I? Ugh… and I sit here, powerless… both literally and figuratively."

Silence for a few more seconds. Then the now-inconsolable Lady of the Stars burst out weeping head-on again. Oliver, now very distressed at what damage he might have done with his words – and yet mortally afraid of his mother's outburst - began to hug his mother hesitantly.

That was the umpteenth time - in a scant little period of two days – where Mama had lost her cool. He was trying his best to keep her in check… and yet it seemed so hopeless. All the hope she had felt was once more, crumbling away.

But no outburst came. She merely hugged him back as tenderly as she always did, and said, "It's alright. You did nothing wrong. But my child… we'll get through this. It's just - It's just so… so bitter, isn't it? L-L-Let's let it… all out…" They stayed this way for a few more moments, weeping tenderly into their bosoms. No word was spoken as the tears sprang unbidden into their eyes – tears of sorrow, grief and regret.

And in this particular time of weakness, forgetting about a lot of important things. Two things, in particular.

The Undead sat on the roof near the Observatory, feeling frustrated and sore from the morning's fight.

He had tried everything to get the hell back inside. He'd risked every single Wrath of the Gods charge. He'd whacked several times with the Dragon Tooth, the Zweihander, and all the largest, meanest things in his armory. All to no effect. And though his bloodthirsty tenure outside the Observatory had been productive, he was effectively trapped. Though he had taken a few of those… star things Rosalina needed. Good grief.

"She seems to know how to keep things out all too well," he mused to himself wearily as he slumped against the barrier, "and damn, is she good at it too! Any moment now and I'll get skewered… what to do?"

 _Needest you assistance, my dear friend?_

The words sprang into his mind, and the Undead slumped onto the ground, drawing the poor Knightess, forgotten all throughout the morning. "Damn it all, sorry about forgetting about your voice of reason! Now I'm trapped with no way back into safety, and if you've any solution to this kind of damn problem, then show me. I'd like to see you try," he spat out, his voice of sheer sarcasm. His frustration rose to a nigh-insurmountable level, and a feral growl rose unbidden from his throat.

Seeing the danger, the Knightess began placating him, as she always would. _Hush, and fret thee not, dear liege of mine. I am still here, and always will be. And, whether I like it or else, I will always have to guide you, so long as I am with you. Now, what's all this fuss? Can't get back into safety? But how?_

"Ok. The Lady of the Stars has built a barrier around her home. So far, I have let her remove the barrier for a while because I was itching for revenge on those two Knights on the balustrade, who come her to pick us off. But she has forsaken me and trapped me here to rot. Soon, the Silver Knights will come and murder me. Again, and again, and again, until I am reduced into a shambling Hollow." He sighed and finished, feeling more frustrated than ever before.

Surprisingly, the sword chuckled heartily. _Tch, those two… deadlier than Ornstein and Smough combined, with their kill count nigh-equal to the aforementioned. Oh, believe me, we keep records… So, she's keeping you out physically. Oh, she's just probably got her little starchild to take care of and fuss over, and forgotten about you for a bit. That's how priorities work. Anyways, how about magically? Maybe the barrier isn't metaphysical…_

The Undead was confused at her choice of words. "Magically, says you? But how?"

 _Have you any Homeward Bones about you? Or at least the Homeward spell itself? Or a Ring of Sacrifice?_

This suggestion struck him and moved him deeply, and he was silent for a few moments. Why hadn't he thought of this before?

He was about to voice his opinion when a greatarrow cut him short, slamming into the ground between his legs. "There they go, potshotting a cloud again." The shock of the moment speeded his decision; he immediately beckoned a pale white bone to his hand, knelt, and faded away before the next projectiles could do further harm, slamming into the concrete where he was before.

He arose from the bonfire a bit scathed from his tenure outside the Observatory he now called a new home and dusted himself off, mentally conversing with his closest friend about their next moves. "Dearest thanks to you, my best stalwart of a sword." He stretched for a while, taking in what remained of the peace of the morning. He then squatted down beside the Bonfire, yawning. "What shall we do next?"

 _Nothing, I suppose. Further conflict would bring in more troops as reinforcements to the casualties. You shouldn't have gone out there as recklessly as you did – look at you now, your armor's pretty much ripped straight through and stained with blood. And you would've lost some more of your memories if you had died. Not quite presentable to your lady, methinks? So, for now, take a rest. They won't breach your Lady's barrier,_ the Knightess chided gently, _so you've nothing to worry about._ She finished fussing, a smile playing on her face on the narrow edge of her blade. _Except for her children, maybe, which would be best left until tomorrow._

"What about those stars she mentioned? I did manage to snag these ones from under the Silver Knights' noses…" was his eventual question after a few moments' worth of silence and pondering, brandishing four faintly iridescent Power Stars.

 _Ah, well done, I guess! ,_ applauded the Knightess, a wave of joy rushing through her. _Your lady now has all she needs to leave this hellhole… and there might be more, I say!_

"More? That would… that would probably make her damn giddy…" the knight said as if in a trance.

 _But that's all we can do for now. We cannot leave this place without being spat on by an arrow,_ _and by the looks of things more of those Stars she mentioned have possibly either been flung further away, or some precursory samples of them might have fallen here in Lordran far back into the past. That being said, I've heard rumors from my guardian compatriots that a certain magic-obsessed dragon with his sights set upon immortality might have utilized strange five-pointed powerful objects. They're probably hidden away somewhere._

It hit him at once. "Dukes, or the Crystal Caverns… wow, Seath the Scaleless was pretty desperate, eh? And some of them gone to waste, to be sure…"

 _Right there. But heading there is risky, considering there's now a group of Anor Londo's defenders ready to harangue us at every move we make. So for now…_

"We stay put. And entertain ourselves." The Undead finished. "Well, with what exactly?"

 _Do you know how to read?_

"Of course I do."

 _Well… that means we have a whole library in this here, uh, thing, to peruse. Not unless of course the books drive you insane. But it's better than being driven insane by boredom… though, I know you won't EVER be bored, not with your lady, mhmm…_ the sword returned coyly, stifling her giggles.

"Tch. She sure makes life interesting, indeed." The knight remarked drily, a lopsided grin pasted on his face under his helmet as he rose and began to wend his way to the strangest library he'd seen in his life for the second time – "Oh, before we forget, we'd have to deliver something to my lady first." He then changed course, heading toward the large dome-shaped building with a gigantic silverware set upon it. "She said she'd be here, anyways. Well, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Barrier, you say?"

The Dark Sun Gwyndolin was irritated at the results of their reconnaissance. Now the enemy was seemingly invincible with their barrier, and that also meant that their enemy could ceaselessly strike without worry of retaliation.

"A barrier indeed, lord Gwyndolin." Replied the archers outside. They always had this… curt tone talking to him. Maybe it was respect. Or maybe it was fear. Then again, who was he to know?

"I see. Return thou to thine post, I will deal with them soon. Personally. Dismissed," he finished, turning away from the fog wall and ignoring the curt and simultaneous "Thank you, milord!" issuing from outside.

He stepped into the honorary, yet empty tomb of his father, and took a seat, weighing the situation adroitly. Well… this case surely required his special attention. But of course there was the issue of his appearance. Bah. No matter. His armor, which he'd never worn up until now, would serve a good purpose, hiding his ugly visage and protecting him all at once. Though the first reason appealed to him greatly.

He took it up reverently from one of the chests in the room, a simple set of mailed armor with a face-covering helmet in the shape of his crown, only a bit more plated with steel. _Perfect_. His eldest and long-gone brother had given it to him before his banishment.

He sighed, nostalgic. Those were the long-gone golden days of the past. The Dark was never menacing them, they were truly the Gods of their realm, and they even had the time to spare a bit of jovial, yet sometimes bittersweet moments of leisure.

 _Tch. No time to ruminate about the past now,_ he thought absentmindedly as he took up his staff, bow and quiver, and began to head outside, confidence in his gait and posture. _Now it's time to show an example; to get out there and show them I am not afraid to furl my hands with the grit and dirt of my mission._

He stepped out of the room a different person, bearing the implements of war – his stave, bow and quiver all ready for some bloodshed, his armor not on him, fitting like a glove. He grinned darkly as he walked down the long corridor and emerged from the fog wall. It was time to slay some sinners personally for the first time in his monotonous life. Oh, he was going to enjoy meting out punishment for the pain they had caused!

After nearly fifteen minutes of sobbing into their chests, the poor mother and child duo had finally calmed down and started kneading away again, in a sullen silence.

After a few minutes' worth of terse silence, Oliver finally couldn't stand it. "What are we going to do next?"

"I… I really don't know. We can't get out of here just yet, Oliver. We need at least two more Power Stars before we can leave, and we've got none… and how can we go get them when there are those archers outside – wait, oh no, S-Sir Stranger's out there – "

Oliver was suddenly surprised as his mother rushed out hurriedly, crashing into – speak of the devil! - Sir Stranger, who was also coming in - and tipping both of them head-over-heels onto each other, landing them in an awkward heap.

After a few seconds of tense, awkward silence which usually followed moments like that, the Lady of the Stars merely closed her eyes in relief and - yet blushing furiously - flopped the hapless Undead off her to one side. "Oh, thank goodness. I'm so sorry about forgetting about you… I was damn right worried… oh, dear me, you're all beaten up, are you?" she began fussing, noting the rips and dark stain on his armor. "I'll fix you up quick – oh dear, gracious me – "

"N-N-N-No, no, it's-it's all r-r-right, uh, L-Lady R-R-Rosalina, uh, I-I just, eh, have to give you, er, s-something I f-found from those-those two enemies outside…" he stammered out, his face a shade of red reminiscent of a boiled lobster as he handed her the Power Stars. _Good thing there's a helmet on your silly face,_ was Knightess' final word after chuckling long and hard.

All the negativity Rosalina felt – along with the equally deep blush on her face – vanished as she took them up reverently. She was lost for words at the Knight's bravery – all that time and trouble taken for a complete stranger he now treated, at best, as an ally he'd still need to be weary of.

But why? Why do this all for her? Perhaps there was something deeper to all this… maybe. She stowed the thought for later. Perhaps it would mire her in scandal, like the last time she went on one of those things... Or perhaps it would be beneficial. Either way, this anomaly needed to be taken back to the mansion. That was the status quo for now. But that… that idea – he idea of infatuation – intrigued her the most. _This surely will be interesting._

The awkward silence that ensued didn't last as long as it did, anyways, thanks to Oliver. This time, though, he didn't leap into Sir Stranger as usual. He helped him up instead – by burrowing under him and shoving upward, forcing the knight into a sitting position. This done, the little child then burrowed comfortedly into his side, chirping happily.

This drove the knight back to his senses. He blinked, looked around and, coughing, addressed the two with his initial awkwardness, along with his stutter, slowly fading. "Um, sorry about crashing into you, Dear Lady… I didn't notice you coming out of the kitchens. Uh, so that's… that's as much as I could get, and there might be more of those somewhere. Do you need anything else, Milady?"

The Lady of the Stars looked up and, with a wave of her hand, beckoned a starburst towards the knight, healing him and his armor completely, the rips closing, the dark bloodstains fading. She sighed wearily, and said, "No, nothing more. I just need to unwind a little. Oh, dear me, I'm at loss for words thanks to this… this is all too much compared to whatever agonies you go through just for this…"

"It is no problem, dearest Rosalina," the knight countered carefully, levelly, even, "as you mentioned paying me back in full, and I'm not expecting you to renege on that."

"I see… but your efforts far exceed what I expected. You have my deepest gratitude. But you know what? Next time you're leaving this place in search of more stars, I'm going with you," she decided firmly. "With these stars you've got… we can get out of here now, unless you've further business, id I'd like you to keep safe. Just let me feed myself and my child here, and take a bath, then I'll be ready by that time. For now…" She paused, apparently pondering upon the Undead's next assignment for a while. "You'll have to rest. You've done enough, and thanks to you I can perfect my defenses. Again, my deepest gratitude…" she finished, drawing up close and, not minding the Undead's filthy armor, pulled him into a warm embrace for the second time in the brief time they had met.

 _And so close to each other already! This is getting intense…_ purred the Estoc.

Which, it should be noted, deepened the blush on the Undead's face, who was both mentally berating Knightess and thanking Lord Gwyn he never usually took his armor off.

After she remained in her embrace for a few more moments, she pulled away silently with a Cheshire grin on her face, and that was Oliver's signal to bowl him over with a leap into his chest, squeaking and chirping happily.

They then began to move outside. And that's when the siege kicked off again… yet more viciously.

The non-magical nature of the barrier proved a sore point for the three inhabitants of the structure whose protection relied on it so heavily, emphasized by a literal rain of Moonlight Arrows which tore casually though the barrier.

Luckily, the little Luma managed to get away from the majority of moonlight arrows strikes with just a deep scrape on his face thanks to Sir Stranger throwing him back into the Kitchen. He hurriedly scurried into the relative safety of the underside of his mother's favorite stool, cowering and trembling fearfully.

Rosalina came out a bit more scathed, warping away to the Bathroom and falling flat onto the pool of water with a resounding crimson splash. She hurriedly pulled out five shafts from her thigh, ankle, back and shoulderblades, respectively, wincing in agony as the shafts tumbled to the ground. Then she recognized the severity of the problem.

She was faced with a sudden dilemma. A flaw in her abilities was now currently displaying itself in a most vicious way. She clapped her palms to her mouth as she saw the Undead sickeningly pelted on by dozens upon dozens of arrows. She felt an urgency rise within her… but she weighed her choices carefully.

Would she have to possibly waste her Power Stars saving the anomaly? Of course… but then, they might never leave this place again. That was what worried her the most. And of course, the knight could always be brought back to life… but insane, right? That might have been undesirable, seeing a being of power be willing to help her one moment, and raving against everything in the next.

But as she watched the proceedings with a sickened look, she acted upon instinct. A strange overprotective rage flowed into her as she crushed the Power Stars in her fist.

 _You will not harm my friend. You will neither drive him mad, nor make him a threat to anyone._

A warm feeling coursed throughout her as she felt so full to the brim again. She sent a sizeable jolt of energy to the shield, and then…

The knight had definitely fared the worst. After throwing the Luma away he managed to bring out the Crest Shield and was forced to hunker down behind it after being struck several times, now looking very much like a pincushion. Numerous arrows were sticking out on his limbs. Turtling, however, definitely did not help much as the odd bit of his body sticking out was a receiving end of an arrow every second, and he winced in infernal pain as the magic from the arrows spread through his body. _Damnit, I'll die soon… the scum are pretty adaptive. I'll give them that_.

All at once, the barrage stopped and he panted for a few seconds, glad to be alive. Then, with great agony but fueled with grim resolve, he strained and risked a peek past his shield and then took stock of the belligerents.

On their side: himself now almost a pincushion and nearly dead (but that was going to change soon, thanks to his Estus Flask), a little child nearly incapable of fighting (so he thought), and a powerful Lady of the Stars, all of them equipped with his items (which, it should be noted, should be better referred to as an armory in his pocket) and vast stores of magical power.

On the other side: the entire host of Sentinels, Silver Knights, Bat Wing Demons bolstered by the appearance of someone with a strange set of armor, who was charging a strange spell… with both his bow and a catalyst?!

 _No time to think about that, though with that catalyst, I'm pretty sure it's Lord Gwyndolin. Hide!_

The knightess' warning immediately sent the Undead back to the small space behind his Crest Shield as the pattering of countless Moonlight Arrows began to rain down straight through the barrier upon his pitiful figure.

Suddenly, the barrier gained a new intensity, and began to glow turquoise, miraculously blocking out the relentless fusillade. With a final _clack!,_ the last arrow fell upon the shield and remained embedded there. Gratified, the knight quickly drew his Estus Flask and swigged it deeply, twice. Then, he began the agonizing process of tearing out all the deadly shafts from his limbs.

After laying down upon the ground a few moments, reveling in his life, he heard the storm of shafts clatter on against the now-empowered barrier. Suddenly, the weariness of the early morning came upon him like a hefty specter, and then he decided, _Lying stretched out in this grass is so damn relaxing. Ah, to be away from it all…_

His eyelids grew heavy, and as he passed out he heard hurried footsteps clatter towards him. _All in a morning's work._

Gwyndolin swore as he saw the next fusillade from his catalyst nullified by the strange shell outside the structure they were besieging. His new Rain of Arrows spell had worked out so fine at first. If only they had gotten the trio! Unfortunately, they were too protean to the situation, and he knew when exactly something was invincible.

A wave of anger rose inside of him… but he stifled it to a mere shudder. He could not be so careless as to betray even the slightest volatile emotion to his underlings. Some of which were doubtful, other even mocking him for his supposed frailty. But punishments fitting for them could be arranged. Punishments severe, not even the Curse of the Undead would provide relief to.

He motioned to his archers, and said "Hold. There is little left for us here. The heretics have managed to repel our attacks by strengthening the barrier, as I can see." He coughed and continued, a bit roughly. "You two, and you there," he beckoned to two Silver Knights wielding halberds, and a Sentinel. "Post yourselves here to relieve these two. That shield's intensity must mean it's also keeping its' inhabitants inside as it keeps us out. I will accompany you after I have prepared a way to break through... The rest of you… you are to go back to your usual posts."

He stepped down the stairs lightly, after all the rest except for the aforementioned guards) had left, muttering darkly to himself. How could one nullify magic? That he did not know yet. "This is going to take a miracle to solve," he said absentmindedly, "and I'll have to call upon Duke Seath's knowledge for this."

Little did he know the thing he needed had already escaped his lips. A miracle, indeed.

And that's all for now! Though, again, further updates shall be sporadic due to schoolwork. Read, rate and review, as always. Peace out!

\\[T]/


	11. Fragile Peace

As school ends, the stream of ideas flows on once more… ironic, as it's now summer and it's toasty in 'ere. Getting past junior high school was one thing I had to put effort into, with a lot of interspersed joys and sorrows.

Also, thanks as always for stopping by to read, and for the new review, follows and favorites!

And as per publication standards…

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Smash 4, Super Mario Galaxy, or Dark Souls, this goes to Nintendo and FromSoftware, respectively.

* * *

CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH

The Lady of the Stars was no stranger to concern. Being a mother herself with a brood of lively starchildren to fuss over, there was always the occasional accident or incident which caused her to knit her brows together in worry and rush to the one in need, ever ready to aid and mend. There were also her friends who, although very few, had a lot of wounds and woes she had aided in mending.

But what was this feeling coursing through her chest as she absentmindedly warped – ah, the joy of not walking! – to the stricken knight, picking him up telekinetically and placing him in her own bed? That feeling which knit her brows and made her pulse race as she checked her charge's vital signs? Surely it was concern for something important like an anomaly she had to deliver. _Good grief… he's just fine. Breathing and pulse are still firm. He'll just need rest, and fixing up. But… why do I feel this stupid blush on my cheeks?_ She thought to herself as she began healing him, ripping out arrows and sending starbursts of healing energy into his wounds. _Why do feel this infernal urge to take his helm off his head and behold his hidden face? Why do I feel so… juvenile?_

She shook her head furiously and tried to push her strange new feelings aside… but all in vain as the flush on her face became more intense as she began to heal the knight's lower torso. _Ugh, this is strange._ As she began tearing out the arrows from his legs and healing the wounds and bruises she found, a sudden curiosity overcame her roving gaze. It took all her willpower to tear her gaze away from the knight's prostrate body. _Crikey… by that form I can imagine he's hands– ugh don't say THAT word, Rosa! What are you thinking of!_ She stifled a lopsided giggle, very much embarrassed at herself at this point.

She hurriedly finished ministering to the Undead, who had not as much as even stirred in the entire process. When she was done ministering to her charge, he was free of arrows and sleeping quite soundly. And albeit all the blood, grime and filth on his body which covered him in a thin layer, he was all right. _Crikey, when was the last time he had a bath?_

She hurriedly ran outside her own Bedroom – and tripped on her dress in her haste, landing heavily on her face. She ended up with an abrasion on her cheek as she decided, _Screw it!_ and teleported to the Kitchen, her heart aflutter as she remembered the second important thing for this day.

The bread.

In a flustered haze, she sat down heavily on her stool, the deep blush on her cheeks still burning like a brand… and was suddenly knocked over as her frightened little son leapt into her blindly.

* * *

Scared out of his wits, poor Oliver rushed out of his hiding place, dashing madly and flailing away with his chubby little arms at what he thought was an intruder. He had been hiding out under the stool for so long, and a sudden, bursting sound brought him alert, if not afraid. _Dammit, I should be out there helping Mama…_ he thought to himself wildy. _It should have been the enemy running away in fear, not me! But… but I'll get killed… alright, never mind, the enemy's come inside our house! I'll show the enemy how a Luma deals with foes-_

In a flash he was scooped up by something. He struggled hard to free himself from the strong thing's grasp. The thing resisted hard, and suddenly… the gentlest pair of hands came down upon his head. They gripped him firmly at first, then then gradually began stroking him on his forehead. He relaxed for a while, allowing the hands to stroke him, thinking they were Mama's hands. That's when he saw and felt a strange difference.

 _They were slick and covered in blood. And now, it was all over him._

He leapt out of the intruder's grasp, and an intense fear overtook him completely and drove him out, out, out… into the warm daylight. He looked for yet another safe place… _The Bedroom! Yes, that was it!_

He rushed ahead into the Bedroom, spurred on by his intense fear. He leapt hurriedly onto the bed, and landed smack onto a pile of armor covered in _yet more blood_ , which subsequently awoke, groaning and cussing quite loudly.

"Ah, damnit! Gerroffame! My chest's burnin'! It's… burnin'…." Then he fell back into the bed, sighing and he recognized the voice and the armor as Sir Stranger, and he began to calm down considerably… albeit… he suddenly realized he was now practically bathed in blood from the stranger on the bed. He began to roll around in his mother's sheets desperately, hoping to _just get the sticky, disgusting blood off already -_

Then suddenly, a burst of blue dust erupted in the foot of the bed, and a tall woman in a crimson-stained white-and-red evening gown materialized out of it. Her hands were covered in the same sticky red substance on his forehead and on Sir Stranger. And then the connections hit him like a pile of bricks. _Oh._

All the fear left him as he, now thoroughly cowed, took refuge in his mother's worried hands. All of a sudden, he felt… nothing. As if the fear had drained away and taken all his other emotion with it. His limbs began to shake and tears spilled from his eyes as his mother consoled and soothed him with words – words he could not comprehend.

He tried to speak, but as he even just to attempt to articulate a sentence… he could not. _What was this feeling…? It's certainly not fear… It's… different…_

He wondered slowly, immovable, out to the world, until weariness overcame him for good. _What is… wrong with.. me?_

* * *

After all her attempts to console her poor, stricken child and realizing what had happened, Rosalina shed some tears of her own. Indirectly speaking, it was her who had traumatized her own child. _Ugh… shouldn't have barged in so quickly, and I should have cleaned myself of this terrible blood. Now my poor Oliver's… potential… has been stunted somewhat._

She straightened, tired of it all. Again, many terrible things had happened in such a short span of time, and now she was wondering whether to expect something good in the next few days. _If I even survived them._

She looked at the bloody mess of an anomaly on her bed and began questioning herself. _Was all of this really worth it? Were all the Lumas lost really worth this… this powerful being playing as a knight?_

Then, thinking about how she couldn't have put up a fight against the psychopathic blue oaf who murdered nearly her entire brood – herself included - she smiled for a phantom of a moment. _Of course it was worth it. We'll bring them all back, one time or another. And we shall live past tomorrow. Though this might be harder done than said._

She gave herself an even broader grin as she set her child down on one of the large pillows next to the stricken knight, began caressing him, and feeling content as his eyes began to grow dimmer, smaller, and smaller still, until he fell asleep. For the first time in the crisis, she had gotten over the stress and negativity she felt by sheer determination… and something more, she reckoned.

 _These dark times would soon be brighter._

A sudden movement on the bed's fabrics jolted her back into reality. She turned, and saw the knight stir again. He tried to sit up, but fell back and almost passed out again, if it weren't for the Lady of the Stars neatly warping beside him and catching his upper body... tenderly. Like a caring, worried mother… or probably something else.

 _Gah. I'll leave it at that, then…_

"Are you alright, sir? You seem to be quite feeble… Here, take my hand…" A gauntleted hand leapt readily into her outstretched palm, making her wince with a few edges that had scored her palm, albeit not deeply enough to would her. "The yellow flask… in my belt… give it to me, quick…" was the gaunt reply.

In a trice the strange flask, although with a bit of green now showing through its' surface, was in the hands of the Lady of the Stars, who quickly upended it onto the poor knight, not entirely sure what to do with it. Instantly, a change came upon the knight. The yellow essence was suctioned through the slits of his helm, and soon after that he got off the bed stood up, vitality coursing through him again as he took the drained Estus Flask from the hands of the Lady in one swift movement. "Ahh, that's the stuff. Thanks awfully… I'll try to guard some more - "

"Rest, sir," was the firm response of the Lady, "you won't function well without it, especially after injury."

"But what of our enemies? Surely I cannot allow them to strike while I lie resting, and– " the knight began.

"They are gone as of the moment. And for now, I will have to suffice. Replenish yourself while you can, ok? I wouldn't want to get overrun because of you faltering amidst battle." She stood, making her way to the entryway. "Am I clear, sir?"

The knight thought for a few moments. "Alright, madam. But I'll be quick about it so I can relieve you, eh?"

Rosalina's expression softened. "Very good. I shall have to cleanse myself, and prepare breakfast for myself and my child."

The knight, somewhat begrudgingly, laid back down on the bed, and mumbling to the Darkmoon Knightess, started to fall into a sleepy stupor again. "She clearly knows I'm fully healed; thus, she wants me out of the way. Does she hate me now or something?"

 _It isn't that,_ the sword replied gently, _she just doesn't want you strolling into her bathroom while she's buck naked, I think. So in her point of view she's hitting two birds with one stone – doing you some kindness and maintaining her dignity all the same. Take that with a grain of salt or something._

"I see. Eh, that's… illuminating. Thanks. Be back in a bit…" the knight mumbled on as the Dark of sleep overtook him.

* * *

Lord Gwyndolin, now managing to wreath himself not only in his armor but also an illusion of a floating fog-bank, stared at the obscenely large painting within one of the halls of his family manor. The Painting Guardians stood around him in a ring, wondering apprehensively what exactly brought their master here after so many years of seclusion, and whatever he wanted to do with the painting which he had left untouched for so long, and which had been repeatedly broken into in his absence. Scores of Silver Knights surrounded him, with ten of them – including the two hawk-eyed archers – ready in rank and file.

The Dark Sun spoke out. "After my visit to the Regal Archives, I have confirmed that the object of power – a certain, oft-forgotten miracle – has been locked away in this realm. I have resolved that I shall take the object, as it will be of great use to us in the coming war against the intruder on our rooftop. The ten of you shall accompany me – " he gestured to the Knights in rank and file, " – and the four of you shall assist the Painting Guardians if any attackers might come out or to the painting. You three sentinels… guard the roof where the intruders are. The rest of you, back to your posts."

This settled, the rest of the vanguard – with no small amount of relief – shuffled back to post. The ten chosen knights shuddered, redoubtable as they were. This was a world so treacherous, and they had better kept their wits about them. As one, with the Dark Sun in the lead, they filed silently into the painting, ready to face the very peaceful world within, and it's kind inhabitants.

* * *

Dreams would have been quite a rarity for an undead, with all the souls they had jostling in their bosoms. The undead, no exception, blundered around in the soul-filled haze of his subconscious, this time unable to lift a finger in his sleep-filled periphery as thousands of shades blundered around, seeking his power… and yet unable to touch it. In vain they milled around, swarming him, relentlessly attempting to take his essence for themselves. It was ironic… sources of power attempting to take power from the one who fed from them.

Suddenly, the haze of souls parted, and he recognized a familiar, filial presence. His father suddenly appeared in front of him, and spoke. "I bring you the future, son."

Suddenly, a vision enveloped him. The stench of ruin, decay and ash enveloped him. He saw a tall gaunt figure, brazen and burnt by the Flames, with a molten crown upon it's weary head, sitting close by a bonfire, always watching and waiting. Yet more scenes sped to him. Night falling over a still-standing Anor Londo, with a great monstrosity melded with Gwyndolin shifted inside. Another castle with heaps of dead, burning cadavers, with a great giant sitting emptily on his throne, sword in hand. A squalid settlement full of strange witches and Hollows with humungous, snakelike protrusions on their torsos. And a darkened, ruined graveyard filled with Black Knights.

All of a sudden… the images were a blur. A woman, hands held in front of a strange unfinished painting. A large monstrous hunchback flogging himself, his gore spilling into… was that the Lordvessel? A ruined castle, steeped within the dunes of time, with a

"This is the future I seek to change. A future ruined by the appalling, ruinous cycle of Flame. And your friend has just taken a step to ensure it." This was then followed by a snort of disgust. "Well, what's done is done. But when this all is over… when I live once more and peace is brought to the realms you so speak of… promise me, my son… that you ensure this age of ruin does not come upon our realm. Be wary, be watchful. And since you will be put into a world where they treat you as a being of great power... know which ones to trust and which ones to deceive. Now, wake. We shall place things as they shall be, and we shall rule over all the Abyss… Together."

As the images faded, and the all-encompassing brightness of the Sun streamed mercilessly into his eyes, he could only wonder one thing.

 _How…?_

And then he woke up, confused. He hopped out of the bed quickly, noting the grime and gore he had left on the sheets, and the little being festooned among them. _Damn, someone's going to be affrighted out of his wits when he wakes._

 _Good day to you, sir. How'd sleeping fare for you?_ Sensing something insidous on the bosom of the knight who was still stuttering out an unclear answer about some Humanities, she had misgivings of her own and decided to put matters aside. _Sorry I asked. I sense something you'd like to keep under wraps._

 _Perceptive, i'll give you that._ He crept out of the bedroom quietly, resolving to keep these visions to himself for now. _The future... well. We'll see about molding that when it comes. Present maters are... well, more pressing._

He set about looking for his friend the lady. _Well, looks like there's been a lull in the fighting,_ the knightess murmured, _because there's hardly any foe on the roof right now. Or am I wrong?_

"Well, you're halfway there," returned the knight as he pointed out the Sentinel behind the roof stairs. "Anyway, where do you think she'd be?"

" _Why are you asking me? You know her better, after all… you should… and I haven't had enough time to concern myself with her routine."_

"Touche. Well, let's start rooting around her food stores first. She should get peckish after this morning's scuffle."

 _Told you you'd know better._ The knightess returned triumphantly, quite in a jeering mood. Silently, patiently bearing her tirade, blushing furiously and smiling a bit, the knight entered freely and of his own will into the Kitchen. He soon beheld a recently bathed, gore-free Rosalina, who was busy kneading the bread. She was dressed in a shirt, jeans and and careworn sneakers, which all the while made her look more bizarre to the hapless knight. However, her hair was still a tad bit moist, and was wrapped into a towel. Save for the huge patch on the right side of her face, which glistened brightly.

This time, though, the knight managed to shove away the attraction he felt, and spoke firmly. "What shall I do next, m'lady?"

Startled, Rosalina looked up and answered hurriedly. "Oh, uh, it's you, well, uh, before you go off to guard again… uh, you might have to wash yourself behind your ears first, if you don't mind my choice of words, sir. Please." Such was her request, as she gradually came to realize that the knight spoke some strange form of Middle English, and wondered how the two of them managed to understand each other so fluently, with their choices of language and whatnot.

 _Possibly some strange magic around these parts, or some other convoluted reason… tch, never mind it if things are getting themselves simple for us. At least he speaks in a common tongue, or an old version of it. This will soon get confusing once he reaches the Mansion. But we'll sort that out…_ She sighed inwardly. _If he doesn't kill him._

"You've got layers of dirt on you," she continued, "and not only can I smell them, you might get infected and either get horribly ill, which will tax my magic, or die, which will drive you insane, as you have claimed will happen, and become a threat to me. I cannot accept either of those outcomes."

After a few moments' worth of embarrassed pondering (and some jeering from the Knightess) the knight agreed. "Uh… all right, though if it's just dribbling buckets water on me I won't accept to such squalid terms. It'll make me reek worse, I assure you." The knight replied, drawing himself up to his full height indignantly. "And what's this infected thing you speak of?"

"Infected… it's when, er, toxin enters your bloodstream and damages your, um, innards due to… eh… this thing called… bacteria… in the dirt." replied the Lady, trying to speak as simply as she could manage, and definitely not sure if the undead could understand. When he nodded – though it might had been a sign that he could hardly understand but wanted things over with – she sighed in relief. "Well, I can assure you it won't be just dribbling water over you, sir." The Lady replied warmly, taking his hand gently, leading him outside. "Come with me and I'll show you…"

* * *

Elsewhere, Rosalina's absence was starting to make yet more people knit their brows with worry.

Apart from Master Hand, Fox gradually started to become alarmed as most of the next day passed without Rosalina or her Lumas walking around the halls or getting jeered at by Bowser & Co. Much to his chagrin, Master Hand was right about Rosalina's lack of punctuality, and the circumstances that surround it. Yet more unsettling for him was being unable to fight one of the most tenacious combatants in the mansion anymore – apart from the rest, of course – since she was right below him on the current tier, and fought him fiercely _._ Not only that, but most of the high-tiered people shared his latter sentiments as well… or at least enjoyed pummeling her, and sometimes getting beaten too. That Rosalina was full of surprises.

 _Man, what a drag…_ he thought to himself as he walked around the hallways, quite impatient for her arrival.

"Hey there Fox. What's with that face? You look as down as Pittoo today!"

He chuckled drily as a grinning Palutena rounded the corner of the corridor jauntily. "Yo, y'all aren't worried one of your close friends hasn't arrived yet?"

"Nah, not really. She can take care of herself; I've seen her before. Maybe she might've just found something important – like her parent's dead bodies or something."

"Well, you don't have to make it sound that morbid, though." He returned, still worried, as the Goddess of Light chuckled warmly at his unnerved expression. "But ain't it a curious liddle situation?"

"Really, though. I am starting to get worried. We could start a search… Send our scouts out. Draw the lines, find out where she went, and where she might have gone if she isn't there. But right now, Fox… Let's give her a grace period. Say, tomorrow. And besides that, let's eat. It' almost noontime and I'm starving." Palutena giggled, walking off towards a staircase leading to the cafeteria. "Let's get there before Kirby does, and swallows up the entire menu."

"Well, thanks for the timely reminder. Why's Dark Pit down, anyways?" returned Fox, relieved he'd be doing something about Rosalina.

"The lack of desserts is bothering him. I mean, come on." Palutena sniffed in sheer disdain. "Of all the easy ways we could procure pastry, not to mention just conjuring it from thin air, Master Hand seems… rather strict upon treats. Wants to just… buy them every now and then. And aside from that, there's Rosa and her cookies, all gone. Yup… this is getting quite serious."

It was also worrying Kirby – not only did he miss one of his friends from outer space, he was also yearning for more of her savoury little pastries, cookies and tarts, which she made every Friday. But Meta Knight and King Dedede reassured him constantly that she would return. Now these two were also worried, as Rosalina was not only a purveyor of pastries, but also of great power and knowledge to the budding Star Warrior that they protected, and admittedly, couldn't easily put up with.

And let's not forget the main Mario cast. They tutted about her absence, they tutted about how their cast would be incomplete without her, they tutted about all the events they would have to cope with her away. But secretly, they were glad they had more chances to shine, now that she was away along with her immense capabilities. And gladdest of all was Bowser. The only ones truly worried about her were Mario, Peach, and of course, Luigi.

It bothered the latter one so much he hardly slept, and later that night the other two joined him on the rooftop to gaze incessantly at the stars, hoping to catch even just a glimmer of the Comet Observatory streaking across the sky towards them. They missed her soothing presence, her wisdom, and her sweets. But most of all, they cared deeply for someone who they knew as an introvert yearning for companionship… and someone who would need their company too, in their point of view.

Regretfully, they would have to wait for her a bit longer.

* * *

"Well, this sure is no ordinary bath."

That was the Chosen Undead's word after gazing at the Fountain's elaborate, yet very outlandish design. Ornate tiles forming a dome, with water continuously spilling out through two holes cut into the sides of the building, and all of it floating out of reach. He wondered how they're reach it when a sudden tugging sensation enveloped him, and he went flying coming to a rest inside, miraculously landing on his feet. The interior was as bizarre as the façade – a trench of lightly-colored tiles filled with a stream of water pouring out from a crevice in the wall, surrounded by a platform of raised tiles. He wasn't really sure what to make of the water spilling away outside, which of course was a big waste in everyone's opinion. He also wasn't sure where the water came from, or how much of it was there in wherever it came from, or whatever substance or magic would be in the water…

But he decided not to bother himself with all the little details first. He looked at Rosalina, hesitant, until she nodded her approval, and said "Go in, armor and all if that's what works for you. I'll be tending to the bread and my child for the moment, so you can have your privacy. Just don't get out of that place buck naked, alright? I can't accept that," she replied, stifling another attack of juvenile giggles. "When you're done I'm in my Bedroom at that point. Then I'll tell you what to do next, ok?"

"Alright. Fare thee well…" he replied jovially as she walked out and he started unfastening his armor.

Reassured, yet still wary that the strange clear liquid pretending to be water might _dissolve_ him – was that the word? – on contact, he gingerly stepped into the water, and laid down under the limpid water's surface – and found it was quite lukewarm and comfortable. When the water had seeped through his accoutrements thoroughly, he took them off, scrubbed the dirt off them, and left them to dry on the platform.

If Rosalina were there, she'd be in for quite the sight of her life. A toned, healthy figure, with long jagged scars running down his back, chest and left arm… scars which being reborn could not heal… scars he most oftentimes forgot about. Aside from that, his body was nondescript, tanned slightly and scarred – strangely unhealed by his Curse. He had a tan not because he took his armor off at times; it was his constant exposure to miracles which did the trick. And of course there was his face. A craggy face with a sharp nose, a crown of short, blond hair and piercing, coal-black hawk-eyes which beheld the world clearly. He sighed as he began to scrub himself clean under the running water. But the crowning feature of his being was a patch of round Darkness with its' edges enflamed, which was the brand of his curse, etched on his right temple for all the world to see.

He decided, as he'd finished scrubbing the grit and dirt off him, to squat down below the refreshing water and remain there, cleaning his armor and other effects, for nigh over an hour. _Cleaning myself has never been this damn relaxing… and it should take damn long too._

He squatted under the flow of water, closed his eyes and thought halcyon thoughts as the stream cleansed him… Blissfully unaware of the intense scrutiny placed upon him.

After ten long minutes, a sudden, silent murmuring caught his attention.

He strained his ears. The murmuring continued, frenzied as ever, and then he realized what it was – Knightess in the damned armor pile, watching him and giggling in a very obnoxious and juvenile manner.

 _Fuck –_ he swore, catching himself and his language – _how long has the pervert been watching me?!_

 _Oi, sir! You seem pretty small – I mean, tall! Though honestlty, you're pretty much attractive-_

The knight was beside himself at this point. He hurriedly took the giggling Knightess and stuffed her down into his hammerspace. _Careless old me…_ he growled, the fury dying down as quickly as it had flared up, _should set meself a list of things to do when I cleanse myself._

After five more minutes of s bathing, his skin began to wrinkle, and he decided I was time to exit the bath. He wrung his clothes dry and began putting his , berating himself for letting Knightess become a total pervert in the wake of his carelessness, thus compromising his modesty. He drew his blade balefully.

 _Man, you're quite something, although again, you're quite_ small _on that account –_

"Shut it on that account, will you?!" The knight shot back, his voice equally full of venom and mirth.

 _Alright, alright. Anyways, feeling better? Or cleaner, at least?_

"Cleaner than you mind will be now… hey, what's that murmuring noise I hear? Sounds like…"

Recognition dawned upon the Knightess. _Like my Lord chanting a spell! Hurry up with your dressing! I've heard him do that before, and who knows what he might be up to this time!_

* * *

The two Silver Knight Archers, along with the rest of their troop, sat around the Painted World's solitary Bonfire, forlorn and enraged in equal counts.

It had all happened so fast. Everything went so well – swordsmen in front, archers and the Lord at the back, and they took efficient care of all the rabble. The Lord then started walking up a winding set of stairs where the Vow of Silence was, and they gratefully shot the Crow Demons out of his way. And he repaid them by ostracizing them due to "the offences and blasphemy you committed upon a God!" Or, to be more specific, their petty, derisive humor… which he could have just shrugged off.

"Looks like you was right, matey. The fucker sure has a short temper." The second archer spat into the fire.

"Well, 's fine, matey, so long as we get to stick him with our damned greatarrows when we get back. Damn, it'll be a pleasure." The first knight returned in an angry drawl.

"If we get back, that is." murmured a swordsman from the back.

They had tried to go back the easy way, but they realized two things – they could not warp, like the undead could, and worse, their Lord – curse him! – had goaded them into using the Bonfire. And so they were trapped within this horrifying, forbidden world, and aSo the only way out was through. And damn, it sure would take them a long time, with the Undead Dragon and scores of ravenous undead blocking the way – and all stronger too, all thanks to the rekindled Flames.

So, as they marshaled themselves to make the push to the end of the painted world, they fought off their overwhelming despair, and as one platoon, took up their accoutrements and began the perilous march to freedom.

Meanwhile, Rosalina had just finished kneading the bread. Of course, she had washed her hands beforehand, with some water from the Fountain, rendering her food free of the sanguine substance. With a sigh of satisfaction, she covered the bowl of the bread with a towel, and sat down on her stool, feeling washed out.

Then she stood, resolute. She had her child to comfort and protect… maybe even dote on. She walked towards her Bedroom, not particularly hurrying – now wanting to keep her power ready until the next untoward incident.

She entered her bedroom, and saw her child awake, a tiny trembling mass under the coverlet of her bed. She called him out gently. "Oliver? Are you there? It's me, Mama… and I'm really sorry about all that blood… it got all over me as I was fixing Stranger… ok? Are you ok?"

She lifted the coverlet to behold her frightened little son staring back at her with tearful, wide eyes. Lovingly, gently, she eased the poor little Luma out of his hiding place and held him tight. "Mama's here… and I assure you you'll be fine…"

Oliver merely whimpered back in reply, and then he started weeping again. "Mama, I was so scared… that we might get killed… and when you got it, I… I thought you were the enemy… especially due to all the blood…"

"Hush, now. It's alright. Mama's got no blood on her anymore, see? You'll be alright… and again, sorry…"

"I-I-it's ok… but Mama… promise me… that there'll be less blood in the future… ok…?" Oliver stuttered out, and finally started hugging back. "Please."

Rosalina felt heavily weighed down by this simple request from her child, the dilemma of having to reassure her child with a lie or let him face the cold hard truth. She turned the choice over in her mind.

"Well, child, I'm not really sure I can do that, but I'll try…"

"But… but Mama, why can't you? Isn't it that easy? You're pretty strong after all! You have lots of magic, you can lift things… and… and you managed to…" He shuddered, thinking hard about what he was going to say next. "You managed to… to kill a giant easily… and – "

He was astonished. Mama didn't get angry at all. Or sad. She just hugged him tighter, smiled and said, "Well, sorry about that. We just have to do terrible things to survive… and sometimes we have to go over the top and actually kill someone… and that was just a taste of what's to come, I'm afraid. We'll have to get past this huge problem now, and if it means we have to fight and slay, we have to, ok? And we'll get back the mansion once we get more power stars, and that's probably going to happen soon thanks to our friend the Stranger. Ok?"

"S-sure, mama…" Oliver replied, with the determination growing within him once more "a-and when the time comes I'll be ready for it. I'll fight alongside you!"

"That's the spirit, my child!" returned a much-relieved Rosalina. She'd been expecting something worse… another runaway like Zach, even. "Well, let's get to the Kitchen, the bread'll be done now."

They got there in a jiffy, but not teleporting this time around. The Lady of the Stars walked briskly, wanting to save up her magics for the great events which might soon happen, being under siege and whatnot. She quickly proofed the bread, cut it into twelve.

"Well that's it! All done and-"

Suddenly a insidious, overpowering force cut the next words from her mouth, leaving her unable to speak. What was more, she felt something in her veins run cold and stop, leaving her… utterly powerless. She risked a glance outside, and her horrors were confirmed – the shield was down, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Her magic - her most prized power, which she depended on greatly - was gone from her. And there wasn't anything she could do about it.

And then the siege began anew, and with a vengeance.

* * *

So, that's it after quite a long, dry spell. Thanks for reading, and as always, enjoy!

\\[T]/


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